Whisky and striptease: stories from an old people’s home
For the last four years of her long life, this upstairs room and this magnificent sea view belonged to Mrs…
War has broken out between me and my siblings
Last night I watched a boxed set. Parade’s End is a small box set as box sets go, and quite…
The death of my desert-island fantasy
I was on the back seat of a golf buggy being driven down to the marina from my beachside villa…
A young Rwandan scholar left a profound impression on me
In the Rwandan Genocide Memorial gift shop I bought a handy Kinyarwanda–Kiswahili–English phrase book. The tipping point in the decision…
Smoking opium with Mr Nazim – and a gecko
‘I used to go to India for a few months every year. A couple of times we even drove there.…
Hell is an expat dinner party
I just don’t understand it. Emigrating from Britain to France is a big step. Shifting from one culture to another…
When Brexiter meets Catalexiter
After the hostel breakfast, I stood on the tropical grass lawn smoking the first fag of the day and mulled…
The lessons I learned cycling across Rwanda
The backmarker of the peloton was Eric, a tall, stick-thin Rwandan. Under his cycling helmet he wore a baseball cap…
The joy of a Rwandan airport
Our plane touched down in Rwanda at 7 p.m. Stepping outside on to the metal steps, I smelt that unmistakable…
My image of the young Jeremy Corbyn is not a flattering one
I found the stone and the key underneath and let myself into the cottage — brr! I immediately made a…
![[Photo: John Heseltine / Alamy Stock Photo]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/10/2Novlowlife.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
My journey to the heart of prehistoric England
‘Can I get a taxi around here?’ The man standing behind the counter of the convenience store looked at the…
![Friedrich Nietzche [Photo: Roger-Viollet/Shutterstock]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/10/26Octlowlife.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
The divine comedy of Friedrich Nietzsche
I’ve come back to the empty house for the second time in the six weeks since my mother died. The…
The truth behind those Airbnb snaps
Catriona and I had agreed that a terrace for smoking, eating, drinking and painting was a necessity rather than a…
What had the chambermaid made of my penis vacuum pump?
Fumbling outside my door in dripping swimming trunks for my room key, I was hailed cheerily by the maid from…
Will mindfulness turn me into a Remainer?
Mindfulness at our all-inclusive Turkish beach resort began at 11 o’clock. Our mindfulness teacher was a tiny, smiley, flexible-looking woman…
Why Sodom and south Devon are a million miles apart
We gathered around in the sunshine and watched the coffin being lowered into the freshly dug trench. Stratifications visible on…
![[Photo: Lovattpics]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/09/21Septlowlife.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
Semi-recluse (me) seeks dilapidated cottage on Dartmoor to rent
So now I must find somewhere else to put my books and live sometimes. Dartmoor, I thought: one of the…
The woman laid out in the coffin in front of us wasn’t Mum
The receptionist with brown lipstick showed my son and me into a faultless waiting room, whose centrepiece was a big…
The mysterious ways of the French
These new tablets that will save or at least prolong my life have unpredictable side effects which only now, a…
Catriona’s accident has made of us minor celebrities in the village
Three weeks ago Catriona was going to the village shop when a building site security fence fell on her. Wire…
How Captain Mainwaring lightened my mother’s dying days
On Saturday evening I showered, shaved and, prompted by a strange impulse, put on my going-out clothes. Then I cycled…
A day spent in Oncology
A 20-minute drive through quiet country lanes then suddenly a madcap roundabout and teeming new ring road and finally the…
Do I have cancer in my left eye?
My luck had to run out one of these fine days. Everybody’s does sooner or later. I’ve had a fantastic…
A trip to Dartmoor Prison with my grandson and his cousin
My grandson Oscar (nine) shares a bedroom with his cousin Lucas (eight) and sits next to him at school. Before…
A literary lunch that hits an unforeseen buffer
‘So what are your plans?’ said our gentle, civilised Airbnb host over a tray of tea and cake to welcome…
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