The Suburban Sublime – Southgate Tube Station

Nige admires the work of Charles Holden, the architect behind Southgate Tube Station, one of London's finest Art Deco Underground stations... That is not a newly landed art deco UFO above - it is Southgate Underground station, towards the end of the Cockfosters branch of the Piccadilly Line. I discovered this part of ... Read More...

A Trip to Dieppe

Nige visits the French town of Dieppe, once home to Oscar Wilde, Frits Thaulow and a society of Anglophile artists... About this time last year I headed for Dieppe to spend a few days as a summer flaneur, a thoroughly restorative trip. Dieppe retains its unique, slightly faded charm, and its ... Read More...

A Gastronomic Weekend in Venice

For your pleasure, here is Jassy's account of her recent foodie tour of Venice: bridges and sighs, bigoli and cicchetti, echoing mazes and marriage proposals from fishmongers... A city of bridges and sighs, Venice is also home to the note. Taped to walls and windows, and written in underlined, over exclamation ... Read More...

Sicilian Diary

Toby Ash has just enjoyed a long weekend in Palermo. Just don’t mention the M word... From the moment you land, it’s pretty hard to avoid the mafia in Sicily. Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino airport is named after two prominent judges slain in the early 1990s for successfully pursing the Cosa Nostra. On ... Read More...

The British Rail Sandwich

Fortunately I am too young to have faced any prolonged exposure to this thoroughly besmirched foodstuff. Perhaps you dabblers have a particularly piquant memory of these curly triangles of terror? In British humour, the phrase British Rail sandwich refers to sandwiches sold for consumption on passenger trains of the former British ... Read More...

Hard Times in France

This week Susan has been battling the snow, a cold, and the French - but all in her usual stylish way... “If Britain leaves the European Union, the other members will be cheering,” whispered Lolo in her throaty southern French tones.  We were at the launch party for a new Zumba academy. I’d ... Read More...