Not sure where this obsession with cathedrals comes from.  Even before I went to Norfolk boarding school when each Sunday we could go to the church of our choice for mattins, in summer taking a picnic on our bikes, and there are plenty of glorious churches in Norfolk.  Earlier, aged 10 or 11 when we were living in Chatham, I was ticked off by a woman – ‘What on earth do you think you are doing – Get off!’ – in  Rochester Cathedral for stepping on the steps of the high altar. Holiness?  No, I’m not very holy, though all cathedrals spread a spiritual essence which...

SOLLER, Mallorca Margot and Bill urged us to go, and Bill said Ca’n Roses had a beautiful garden that I’d love and Bob could sit in. And so Toby drove us to Southampton Airport, but really it is foul that a supposedly enjoyable holiday should be book ended by airport Security, by taking off belts and jackets and watches and storing them in a box – it’s like being admitted to prison.  Even with Assistance, where someone shepherds us, B in wheelchair, through, and someone else takes over the other side.  You’d have to be a sadist to enjoy working in security. So the flight, EasyJet,...

Long wait in the palatial Milan Central station, in the marbled Bistro but I had made it.  Worries now were crossing the Swiss border, and the Lugano Lucerne connection.  Dodgy?  Queues?  Red tape?  Delays? So in the train and here I was, lst class for the mountains!  Off we went, via the triumphal arches which were Mussolini’s signal boxes.   Stopped at an unremembered station, wait of a few minutes while three officials strolled along, chatting, on their backs  written DOUANE.  So, that was the border!  Into Switzerland. Along a great lake to Lugano, and here was my Lucerne train on...

  Italy – June 2024 I was asked by Michael Marriott, rose expert, to give a talk in Italy, by the Italian lakes, Rose Symbolism through the Ages.  At a hotel owned by a rose enthusiast.  Would I?!  I couldn’t believe my luck.  I got to work on the talk, the slides to go with it, I had Geordie holding a red rose for love, and the man in Winchester converting old slides into pictures for my new laptop, I bought a flight to Milan … but, I didn’t tell many people.  I knew it could all vanish like a mirage.  (And, life being what is is, who in my elderly book club would be thrilled on...

Margot says you must see Kaffe Fassett at the Dovecot!  Kaffe Fassett?  It rings a bell, yes, at Alf and Niki’s wedding he and another gay man admired the jacket I was wearing.  It was faded black cotton, embroidered with pale yellow suns that I’d bought at a market in Dali, China for 20 dollars.  I was pleased at the compliment but when he introduced himself I’d never heard of Kaffe Fassett, quilter, embroiderer extraordinaire.  Since then I have, and wish I had talked and asked more.  So now in Edinburgh, off to the Dovecot.  On the walls are dozens of brilliant...