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Malaysia Missive: Report II

We had a long weekend for Deepavali. We got a 50-minute flight to Kuala Terengganu where we stayed the night and got the 7.30am boat to Perhentian Basar, an amazing tropical island. There were monitor...

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The London Book Swap Campaign

The London Book Swap campaign is an initiative with the aim of creating a London-wide book sharing scheme throughout London’s railway network. The campaign was the winner of the first #ideas4Mayor...

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Malaysia Missive: Report III

"The switch at Bangkok was smooth, but the jet lag was rearing its ugly head and the floor was starting to swim." A science-turned-English teacher reports from Malaysia...

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Strangers on a Train

"It was nearly two weeks ago. A Saturday. I was catching an evening train down to Barham. The day was damp and drizzly and the tube and station were crawling with the strident remnants of a football...

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Boot in Bellagio

William Boot, he of unfortunate experiences on foreign shores, manages to find the only corner of northern Italy best left forgotten...

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The Pond

"Thursday last, at the pond, early morning, at about a quarter to eight. Sun grins down on me, the first sunny day in a long time. A nascent but confident Sun, full of vitality and young strength."

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Beauty and the Beast

"It's dark. I am naked, dripping in hot oil. Heavy breathing and panting fills the basement as hands move quickly up my slippery thighs." A candid insight in to the wonderful world of spa reviewing...

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The Art of Shooting

Shooting, like any other skilled sport is undoubtedly more enjoyable if you do it well.  It is hard to summon enthusiasm for a sport so utterly unforgiving in the ‘hit’ or ‘miss’ department, where...

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A Comedian in Tennessee, Part I

As the Edinburgh Festival gets underway, Angus Dunican reflects on jobs comedians take out of season. One wet spring in Blighty he takes flight to America, to a Southern institution and home of a...

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A Comedian in Tennessee, Part II

In the second part of his stint gigging in Dollywood, Angus Dunican discovers both an unusual means of relaxation and an alternative to a morning cup of coffee, and meets the matriarch herself… Between...

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The Priest

The old priest was dying. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer six months or so before, but it was too late. He was going to die. They had made a hospital bed up for him in the sitting room; it...

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Al Alvarez: A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man

Of all the characters I have encountered at the pond over the years, he has made the greatest impression. He was squat and bald and old and hunched with bow legs and the remnants of a barrel chest. His...

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A Tubular Experience

For those of us that live there the London Underground is one of life’s mundane necessities, but here Margaret May takes a moment of introspection during a journey on ‘the tube’… What a fascinating...

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The Pursuit of Idleness

What a delectable notion is the concept of idleness. The very word conjures up a wealth of richly imaginative language, in which to indulge one’s dreams of doing nothing: lazing, loafing, lounging,...

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Waterloo

The Southbank is an interesting place. It is the intersection of so many different parts. There is Waterloo Station with the swarms of commuters who are disgorged every morning and swallowed back up...

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The English Dandy: Who, Sir? Me, Sir?

Margaret May muses on the erstwhile English Dandy – his emergence, his rise to pre-eminence and fall from fashion, and whether he might still be among us… The English Dandy. Sadly, a phrase...

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Genealogical Journeys

So Derek Jacobi’s a Huguenot descendant? And Paul Hollywood comes from war hero stock? As the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are? graces our small screens once more, Margaret May takes a trip...

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Taking to the Thames

Londoners take it for granted, visitors often miss the opportunity its views afford; but it’s been witness to more milestones in the city’s history than there are boats that follow its course. Margaret...

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Thanksgiving: An American Affair

To those across the pond the fourth Thursday in November heralds Thanksgiving and the start of the ‘holiday’ season. Having family and friends in the United States, and sensing impending excitement, I...

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Sense and Sensibilities at Stonehenge

I’m standing on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, at Stonehenge – Europe’s most famous prehistoric site and one of England’s most mystical landmarks. It’s approaching dusk on an unseasonably balmy...

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