Category Archives: gone west

Coronavirus – a September view from Padstow

Posted on September 28, 2020 by

Kim and I went blackberrying today to an evidently not-so-secret spot near Constantine Bay: our source heavily pre-picked by the look of the denuded brambles.  It had been chilly when we left the house, passers-by in puffa jackets and woolly … Continue reading →

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coronavirus – an April, May and June view from Padstow

Posted on April 2, 2020 by

June 12, 2020 With everyone and his dog claiming that ‘lockdown’ is somehow making us better more caring people with an enhanced sense of community is overlooking the bald fact that it’s also turning us into caricatures. Today Kim and … Continue reading →

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coronavirus – a March view from Padstow

Posted on March 27, 2020 by

Monday March 30, 2020 A sign of the loneliness this death is bringing came to Dennis Road this morning. A love, admired and respected member of the community Rosemary Brinham was take from her home, Wingfield House, in Dennis Lane, … Continue reading →

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The Quiet Life – or a hell of a holiday by Robin Banks

Posted on November 19, 2019 by

  I ought have known something was wrong when the guest I was expecting insisted on the telephone that I am a “nasty person”. The woman, her mother and partner, had flown down for a short break and wanted to … Continue reading →

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The last Port Eliot Festival?

Posted on July 30, 2019 by

  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed what may easily be the very last Port Eliot Festival.There was a look and feel and smell amid and among the rolling grounds, woodland and elegant Port Eliot House and gardens … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, media, travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

An Inconvenient Truth – the end of the high street just a click away

Posted on December 11, 2018 by

Don’t you ever think convenience is, well, getting out of hand. What began as convenient  – tv dinners for those too rushed to peel the potatoes stepped up a level to embrace teas-mades and bread-makers. Then supermarkets to save the … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, shopping, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I remember monkey bottles, kangaroo tails, and Frank Ifield

Posted on November 28, 2018 by

  I am fortunate to have worked through a period in journalism when the gifts, the perks – the freebies to apply the correct journalistic parlance – were worth having. My diary is housed within a handsome Papyrus leather book … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, London, media, Seashores, travel, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The Price Of Fame

Posted on July 3, 2018 by

It’s flattering to receive an exclusive invitation, especially one from a Michelin rated chef. It reaffirms one’s faith in elitism, that select order of hedonists that has has a lot of bad press recently for being too clever and influential … Continue reading →

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Vandals at work – the death of the bungalow

Posted on September 25, 2017 by

There soon won’t be any 1930s bungalows left. While conservation groups, local authorities and investors, watched closely by the likes of English Heritage, take pains to preserve ancient cottages as well as properties from the Victorian and Georgian eras anything … Continue reading →

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A good day for Tilly

Posted on September 4, 2017 by

Little Tilly will never know how close she came to never enjoying another beach walk. Today, September 4, 2017, was to have been the Staffordshire Bull Terrier’s last. No more runs on Harbour Cove with Asta, her jaws clenched ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Dogs, gone west, Seashores, Uncategorized | 1 Comment