Year: 2024

I am not a fashionista and I gave up on flicking through Vogue many years ago. The models, their sultry looks and their clothes bore no connection to my reality. So I went to the Iris Van Herpen Exhibition at QAGOMA with curiosity above all as a fashion designer was an unusual choice for an…

A new exhibition at the art gallery features glass. I have always loved the shards and pots of ancient glass which have a golden glow to them and an enviable skill set in producing them. This Roman one from Ad 1-500- intact! That iridescence that Roman Glass has is reproduced here by a contemporary artist…

I left Famagusta on the southern coast of Cyprus with the clothes I was wearing and never went back as a result of the Turkish invasion of 1974. I can view my home from a distance but the town remains a ghost town with some recent disturbing openings by the so- called Turkish administration to…

A 350 CC Ariel Red Hunter Motorcycle from 1956. I was in love with a man who loved them. I cannot remember the reason for buying it other than his love of it and my love for him. So it came to be that a motorcycle was parked in Nicosia with a view to it…

Mountain walks looking for a puddle of water that George discovered with lots, and I mean lots, of frogs. Extraordinary level of Ribbit sounds coming from this small puddle but gosh they were happy frogs. We walked in the pine forests, saw many caper bushes, fruit trees, olive trees and aromatic herbs along the paths.…

We are on the north west coast of the island of Cyprus at my sister’s holiday home perched on a rocky coastline. We visit every year and one of our joyful tasks is rock throwing. The beach is rocky and the rocks are rolled by the currents in front of where we come down to…

It’s a little hidden away, behind a block of flats and its facade is a garage door. You enter into a subterranean world. They were once dilapidated garages and now they house art studios, a boxing area, the Mosaic school and much more. I had the pleasure of doing a whole day with Rada, my…

It took many days for the palace to be what it is today. Strangely enough it started off as quite a modest building. There are lots of King Louis’s involved with it. Louis XIII liked the area where he went hunting. He built a small hunting lodge where he could stay the night and which he first used…

Between 1774 and 1789, François de Montville, a man of the Enlightenment passionate about architecture, botany and music, created the Desert of Retz.This landscaped park originally covered 38 hectares and included some strange architectural creations inspired by Chinese, oriental or ancient styles. Today the park displays the fully grown trees which were planted all those…

We are in a suburb north west of Paris where our friends are hosting a 70th party. The Mairie stands proud in the square. To one side the church, dedicated to St Clothilde built in the 12th Century, with stained glass windows reflecting the sunshine. We sat at the Tabac on the corner of the…