Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

Posted on November 19, 2019 by j futrell

  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 j futrell

  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 →

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Never Not Never Go Back – a taste of Viareggio

Posted on June 1, 2019 by j futrell

My life is one of stringent rules: Never wear aftershave; always polish my shoes; stand up for elderly people and women with young children on the London underground; never vote tory; spread the jam on top of the cream upon … Continue reading →

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forget everything you ever learnt about a balanced diet

Posted on April 3, 2019 by j futrell

Shortly before she died, in a hospital similar to the one I recently  myself in, my mother asked for her Christmas present a Ralph Lauren watch. I’d bought her a watch a only a couple of years earlier yet despite … Continue reading →

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

Posted on December 11, 2018 by j futrell

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 →

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I remember monkey bottles, kangaroo tails, and Frank Ifield

Posted on November 28, 2018 by j futrell

  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 →

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The Price Of Fame

Posted on July 3, 2018 by j futrell

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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A Significant Time

Posted on June 13, 2018 by j futrell

As a rule I’m not one for significant dates. Anniversaries I like because I like being married, and there are thems who are gone whom I miss. As for significant dates along the landfill of life –  you can keep … Continue reading →

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Mick Owens – the artful life of a generous man

Posted on March 13, 2018 by j futrell

Michael Owens looms disproportionately large in my life; a presence in four of the rooms of my home to be precise. For a man I shared a house with nearly 40 years ago, and whom for the past ten years … Continue reading →

Posted in London, media, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

when is a bookshop not a bookshop? when it’s in Hastings.

Posted on February 15, 2018 by j futrell

We hadn’t gone to Boulevard Books with a view to buying something to read. The thing is this secondhand bookshop in the centre of Hastings Old Town mutates into a Thai restaurant after dark and despite the walls in our … Continue reading →

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