Ready for Lift Off

“The British nation is unique in this respect: they are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.” – Winston Churchill (speech 10th June 1941) So, while everyone was frantically casting their vote in South Africa, we left them to it and boarded a … More Ready for Lift Off

Post-Christmas 2023

‘I felt overstuffed and dull and disappointed, the way I always do the day after Christmas, as if whatever it was the pine boughs and the candles and the silver and gilt-ribboned presents and the birch-log fires and the Christmas turkey and the carols at the piano promised never came to pass.’  Sylvia Plath – … More Post-Christmas 2023

Christmas Contrasts

‘May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.’ Anon I once had a group of eight-year-olds ask me if we had elephants in our garden in South Africa.  It’s amazing which images persist and what impressions stick.  I could have told them that Cape Town is actually a very … More Christmas Contrasts