You will recall, perhaps, that most enjoyable conversation over dinner the other week?  You were assuring me with great conviction — I cannot now reconstruct the context — that there are now no fai…

April was racing towards its end.  Only a week or two before, the beech wood had exploded into a mist of tiny, pea-green, guileless little leaves. Beneath them, along the drive that led up the the…

“What — what is it, exactly?” asked Pamela, her voice suddenly hoarse. Having glimpsed the thing on the floor, she recoiled from it. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t take her eyes off it. “I’ll t…

“A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes” — Joseph Addison (1672-1719) “I suppose what I mean,” said Edmund, r…

The Scarecrow? Well, therein lies a tale! Perhaps it’s best that I simply tell you all the facts, such as they are, and let you draw your own conclusions.   Jeremy and the twins invited themselves …

“You argue by results, as this world doesTo settle if an act be good or bad.” TS Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral (1935) For three nights in a row, Agnes dreamed the same dream.  On the mor…

“’Tis the solitude of the Country that creates these Whimsies; there was never such a thing as a Ghost heard of at London, except in the Play-house.” Joseph Addison, The Drummer (1716) “I…

British painter Frank Auerbach has died, at the age of 93 years. Whatever else they may have been, Auerbach’s pictures were never easy — easy to make, or easy to love. Effort was demanded on both s…