On the morning of the 21st of June last year, I had arranged with Bruce Balden, with whom I had shared the flat in Norham Gardens in my seventh year at Oxford, to drive up to Berwick in the very north of England. He had retired there, in what had seemed an unusual choice, but his emails since had indicated ...
This might seem most outdated for the few of you who also follow me on Facebook, for I have spent the last week there in memories of the youngest of the newest generation of dogs, Bimbo, who died on the Friday before last. But the subject of this blog now is supposed to move chronologically, so I will go back ...
I had two delightful days with Leslie Mitchell at his retirement home from June 19th to the 21st. On both afternoons I was there we watched Agatha Christies on television, a custom that had become entrenched over the years, whenever this was available. On both days it was David Suchet as Poirot, which is the best form in which to ...
I continue today with the narrative about the dogs that joined me just over a year ago, but even before I had come to the next generation they produced, one of them died, last month. Since I talk about him on Facebook, I will continue here with a chronological narrative, though aware more than ever before about how transitory the ...
In the Senior Common Room at Univ, having coffee with the Deputy Director of Development, on the morning of June 19th, I wondered whether I would ever be there again, just as I had wondered about the Meadows, both places which I had enjoyed together with Leslie Mitchell, more and more so in recent years. But I got the impression ...
Janaki too spent ages with them, and said she got little done when they were around. Fortunately in those early days they still slept a lot, and collapsed conclusively for a couple of hours after their morning and their afternoon bursts of energy. However even watching them while they sleep was a joy, particularly when despite their best efforts their ...
Despite the pleasures of Oxford and the past, I was throughout my stay also anchored in the present, in that I wanted to keep in touch with the new puppies I had got, less than a week before I left. So I would call home every day if internet was possible, and find out through Facebook Messenger how they were. ...
While waiting I told Kithsiri that I should now get another dog. I had thought about this earlier, but it seemed self-indulgent, but now it had become a necessity if Toby was not to give up his peripatetic existence totally. And then, astonishingly, while I was on my way back, Nigel Hatch called me to ask if I wanted ...
The next day was also filled with calls, including from Morar Lucas, who had known my uncle Lakshman when he worked in the East End of London. She had married the brilliant philosopher John Lucas, who was at Merton, and they had both been immensely kind to me during my time at Oxford. They had been in Rose Lane when ...
What I meant when I spoke last week about a retreat into privacy was settling into a self-contained world which is full of interest. The human element in this world is limited, which is why I stressed animals in the original title of the series. But of course that title was also inspired by a book about another self-contained world ...
My visit to England last year was pure nostalgia, covering several different periods in my life. Its principal purpose was to wish my Dean, Leslie Mitchell, on his 80th birthday. He it was who, several years ago, wrote the superscription to this piece, which struck me as so appropriate for his life and mine, when I was putting together extracts ...
I have talked for over a year about the fish and the flowers at Lakmahal, self-indulgently I realized, as I noted three days ago in ending the Wednesday series. I have changed that to talking about travel, for I realized too that, while I had written much about travel since I started working actively on the blog after coronavirus struck, ...
They say that the past comes back to haunt you. I don’t think it haunts. I think that it envelopes you like a warm blanket. Chris Hall, one of my dearest friends at Oxford, was at my 70th birthday party there. I was seeing him after ten years, for he had been at the last of my 60th birthday celebration ...
Having gone the round of the ponds in the main garden, I should mention again the pond by the garage, which I last looked at, and that cursorily, a couple of months back. It continues splendid, except that no lotuses have blossomed there since the host of flowers, white and purple, that appeared in the first few months of the ...
A repeat post, since no pictures appeared! Back home after a fortnight away, I find that it had rained horrendously while I was away, and it still continues to rain. So my morning ventures to the balcony, to feed and admire the fish, have to be short, for even if the rain has stopped the seats are all wet. The ...
Back home after a fortnight away, I find that it had rained horrendously while I was away, and it still continues to rain. So my morning ventures to the balcony, to feed and admire the fish, have to be short, for even if the rain has stopped the seats are all wet. The seat under an overhang, next to the ...
The pond around the temple flower tree, against the south wall of the garden, abutting on the tortoise enclosure, is also full of white Malavi, many of them born here so they are of varying sizes. Amongst them is one pink tetra, though I do hope there may be at least one other, of the three that were originally there. ...
Parallel to the tank in front of the ehala tree I spoke about last week, in the porch by the croton tree, is the upright tank Lohan gave me some years back. That has housed many different fish in the five years I have had it, but now it has just five, two catfish, one big carp, and two little ...
I have not previously shown the driveway to the entrance to my house, and indeed to the new building, but this too is a joy to look at. I show first the view from the little seat outside the new garage, which is one of the places for my morning coffee, giving Rocky his yoghurt and feeding the fish in ...
