…might well have been the greeting to you all at this time of the year, but that would have been from the time when retirement plans were angled very much towards La bella Italia. Having bought a des res on about 0.6 of an Irish acre (about a quarter bigger than one of our EnglishContinue reading “Felice anno nuovo…”
Tag Archives: East Grinstead Concert Band
What is it that makes us …
…who we are? I read with interest in the August edition of GRAPEVINE magazine (www.luccagrapevine.com), that expats in the Bagni di Lucca area near Lucca can now purchase their gourmet reminders of the old country through the enterprising Paolo and his Catene Café. Thinking about this caused me to reflect on a simple, yet highlyContinue reading “What is it that makes us …”
Why do we remember…
…and what is it that makes other remember us? Do others remember us, or do they remember the events with which we might have been associated? I remember being very moved by visiting the sea of over 800,000 ceramic red poppies installed in the moat of the Tower of London in the months before ArmisticeContinue reading “Why do we remember…”
Another Christmas…
…has come and gone, hotly followed by the New Year festivities. So here we go again, Christmas cards put away and the [minimal] decorations carefully stored until the next time. Hopefully, the endless attempts of seemingly increasingly desperate retailers, continually telling us (or is that actually pleading with us?) to celebrate the event by buying this or thatContinue reading “Another Christmas…”
Time flies…
…when you’re having fun – or so the saying goes. I was more than just a little surprised this week to find that my first novel (the third is due for release in the next few days) was released upon an unexpecting and largely indifferent literary world a little more than a year ago. TruthContinue reading “Time flies…”
Celebration…
…can take many forms. Birthdays, weddings and graduations are the obvious choices, but there are also other occasions to celebrate. On the one hand, for example, the life of a departed and much-missed loved one, passing your driver’s licence test or getting into that new item of clothing without cutting off the oxygen supply; onContinue reading “Celebration…”
What does change…
…mean to you? How do you view the difference between change and improvement?Are you someone who accepts the inevitability of change, or are you someone who blanches at the thought of changing something that is well-known and rather comfortably understood for something that is often one great, confusing mystery – when does change not become anContinue reading “What does change…”
Do you believe in…
…circles or, put more specifically, in the concept that things are circular in occurrence – sicut erat in principio sort of thing? Yesterday certainly was. This is the week of the London Book Fair [LBF], an international gathering of the book industry at the huge Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London and, as The BookContinue reading “Do you believe in…”
Only Another Eleven Days…
… before the Contessa di Capezzani-Batelli appears in hardback. She’s been getting to know people in e-book form for the past couple of weeks, but 28th November is her big day – not to mention the Angels of her Chamber Opera Group of Lucca, who will be on the shelves alongside her. This is whatContinue reading “Only Another Eleven Days…”
Quo vadis ?
… as any well educated Roman was wont to ask the nearest oracle. With the Band’s 40th anniversary approaching in 2014, I have been thinking about that self same question, particularly as I’ve been looking into the Band’s long history of incarnations and name changes. Presumably these happy band of players, to misquote Shakespeare, wouldContinue reading “Quo vadis ?”
stuartfifield.com 