by Valerie | Sep 23, 2014 | art, General interest, history, people
I’ve suffered from insomnia for almost as long as I can remember, and this summer was no exception. It wasn’t helped by a hacking cough right into September when I had a fever and was prescribed antibiotics. For years I have occasionally taken a sleeping pill if I was... by Valerie | Aug 19, 2014 | art, Italy, museums, people, travel
We climbed up the side of a hill, and it was hot. Rock tombs this time, not tumuli like the ones we had seen at Tarquinia. Then, in the Etruscan necropolis near Pitigliano, we came upon the temple front carved out of tufa, columns only stumps sticking out of the... by Valerie | Aug 3, 2014 | museums, people, poetry, writing a novel
It’s not often that I’m alone and have time to spare – a great luxury. I was in London and thought I would see an exhibition. None of the ones I hadn’t seen attracted me, so I decided to wander through the National Portrait Gallery. Some time ago I asked my friend... by Valerie | Jul 23, 2014 | childhood, General interest, people
It’s good to know your presence is needed for grandchildren, and that it leaves time for you to have your own life. We’re just back from Daniel’s first proper birthday party, shared with a friend Jago, a week older. (Here they are being photographed... by Valerie | Jul 16, 2014 | 1950s, childhood, General interest, history, people, travel
I had visited Nymans before, but it was some time ago and I liked the idea of wandering through gardens in the south of England on a lovely summer’s afternoon. And so we did. The roses were stupendous in the walled garden, but I seemed to be impelled towards... by Valerie | Jul 7, 2014 | art, childhood, General interest, history, museums, people, travel
We’ve climbed the tower which the eccentric William Beckford built so he could escape from the social whirl of early 19th-century Bath to contemplate, in solitary brooding, the hills around the city, the Mendip hills of the Neolithic inhabitants long before the...
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