by Valerie | Feb 14, 2018 | art, General interest, history, people, travel
My friend and her husband invited me to stay with them in Indonesia where he was working in the Italian embassy. She and I sat in her sitting-room overlooking the garden where banana plants seemed to sprout as we talked. She introduced me to the local fruit and... by Valerie | Feb 8, 2018 | art, General interest, history, Italy, museums, people, travel
Square, bluey-black when dry, bluey-grey and slippery when wet, the old paving stones in the medieval heart of Rome, or sampietrini, were originally a cheap way of paving the streets with off cuts from blocks of basalt used to pave ceremonial buildings. They wear... by Valerie | Jan 24, 2018 | art, General interest, history, museums, people, travel
I always looked forward to Tristram Hunt’s articles in the Observer when he was a university lecturer and later became a Labour MP. It was a pity that he gave up any idea of ever being promoted in his party because of the posh associations of his first name. My heart... by Valerie | Jan 18, 2018 | art, book reviews, General interest, history, people, reading groups
It’s only a coincidence but every year, in the depth of the sad, dark days, I celebrate my birthday, 29 December, as the day when at long last there are a couple more minutes of daylight, increasing daily from then onwards. The winter solstice in the... by Valerie | Jan 10, 2018 | art, General interest, history, people
Every year we invite twelve guests to welcome the New Year, and after dinner this year each was asked to talk of a person, past or present, they would choose to invite. Like any host, I worried a bit about how these unknown guests might mix! The first was portentous,... by Valerie | Nov 29, 2017 | General interest, history, people, poetry, travel
I look out on the grass in front of Beverley Minster and marvel at how green it is. In all these years I have never seen it such a rich shade of green. Have I changed, or has it? Perhaps I am influenced by a book I’m reading set in China after the Communist revolution...
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