Places
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Brighton to Lewes (the scenic route)
“I shall again be coming to Lewes. But I may come over the Downs next time.” Those words were written last November, after cycling the recommended, direct route from Brighton, which takes one grimly along the edge of the thundering A27. The Downs route is more indirect but much, much nicer. First one cycles along… Read more
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Dinky
Another cat sitting gig, this time in Tooting. When sitting for wealthy, professional, liberal Londoners, the inside of their houses all merge together after a while. The same brand of ideologically well-meaning toilet paper. The same cook books. A piano for the children (the same children). The cats, though, differ. This latest one was sassy,… Read more
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Cycling in Oxford: LTNs, active travel, and all that jazz
I returned from Oxford this week, saying an emotional farewell to a cat who will have already forgotten who I am. While I was there, the cat’s owner lent me an old Dawes road bike, which I used to pootle about the place and explore the place, with its river meadows, dreaming spires, and future… Read more
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Visiting every county cricket ground #4: New Road, Worcester
I awoke early today, in time to see the cat slink in ashamed from his nocturnal adventures. It was time for some escapades of my own. After a hiatus from my cricket ground adventures due to Brighton Fringe duties, I had both the means and the time to visit somewhere new. I checked the fixtures,… Read more
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Brighton Fringe: Who To See (8-14th May)
Hello! Brighton Fringe is underway already, and now I’ve got my own gigs out of the way [1] my plan is to give you weekly tips of people to see who DEFINITELY aren’t me. This is an extremely subjective guide of course – but I’ve seen many shows over the years, and reviewed plenty, so… Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Oldland Windmill; walking back via Ditchling and the South Downs
Our second Bank Holiday gig in a row: this time at a 300 year old windmill, near Hassocks, a village that arrived 150 years later with the railway. The mill is in full working order, as I discovered when I saw flour from it for sale in the local Budgens nee the station. From here… Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Jack in the Green, Hastings
May Day is a day for socialist action, and for folk adventure, as we celebrate the end of darkness and the beginning of the summer months. In more recent times, the folk tradition of May Day is, in the public imagination, a rather genteel thing: kids dancing around the May Pole on some village green… Read more
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Visiting every county cricket ground #2: The Oval
Two rounds of the County Championship completed, and two grounds visited. This rate, I hope, will speed up in time, but for now I am easing myself in, like an opening batsman pre-Bazball. The Oval is the first cricket ground I ever visited, in 2005, on the last day of the last Test of that… Read more
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Visiting every County Cricket Ground #1: Lord’s
On a cold, drizzly Thursday, the the 2023 County Championship season got underway, while I was cycling up through St John’s Wood to Lord’s. I was slightly late. I had met a friend and her daughter at in Hyde Park. They had cycled all the way from their home in Tooting – a burgeoning yearly… Read more
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