Category Archives: gone west

coronavirus – the view from Padstow

Posted on March 27, 2020 by

Sunday March 29, 2020. Deaths in the UK now well over 1000 and the government, for what it’s worth, is bracing the public for many more. The figures range from 7000 to 20,000 in the coming month. Some experts are … 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 | 2 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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