The Forest Fire

This is my favourite  painting in the Ashmolean Museum. I saw it again and realised why I like it so much. It’s because the bears look really cheesed off:
I know I shouldn’t like to see the poor bears looking so fed up, but their facial expressions are just so good. They really convey how tired [...]

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The Ashmolean Museum revisited

We’ve just spent a couple of days in Oxford. Most of yesterday was taken up with visiting the redeveloped Ashmolean Museum. I liked what they’ve done to the place. The beauty of the building is still there, but it’s easier to see everything and you feel a bit less like you’re going from room to [...]

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When a [wo]man is tired of London [s]he is tired of life (?)

I think I agree with Oscar Wilde to a certain extent, although I’m not sure how I would actually like to live in London and to be in such a busy place all the time. It might be a bit much.  However, I like going to London and being in London. I like the [...]

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A Sunday stroll in Kensington Gardens

Last weekend we went to stay with friends in London. I went on a short walk around Kensington Gardens and took some photographs. It was a really hot day and there were a lot of people around. The formal gardens were lovely – I’d never seen them before  and neither had my friend, despite the [...]

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The delights of rail travel

I’m afraid this post is just a rant in a-probably-not-very-convincing disguise.
This month, my monthly season ticket went up by £13.oo something. I believe this is an increase of approximately 8%. It now costs about 15% of my monthly salary (before tax, etc.) Since the increase in the ticket price my train has been an hour [...]

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The sink and other Viking-related things

The sink in the picture is in the toilets at the Viking Museum at Borg on the Lofoten Islands in Norway. I took a photo of it because it was the biggest handbasin I’ve ever seen. Much more interestingly, the museum includes a reconstruction of a Viking hall. Unsurprisingly, it reminded me a lot of the kingdom [...]

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A small library in Melaka

We happened across this small public library (above) on our day trip to Melaka. It’s inside a shop house on Jonker Walk. In the library foyer we met a man who might have worked in the library or might just have been running the Buddhist bookstall that was in the foyer. We had a short chat with him about where [...]

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Carrot cakes

I’m sorry this blog has been so neglected recently. I was away for a couple of weeks or so, but since then I have really had no excuse. I just haven’t felt very motivated to write anything this week. Being back at work was disorientating, more so than I expected it to be. However, it [...]

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Well, I think we’re ready

Tomorrow we fly to Malaysia. We’ve packed our stuff and seem to have been able to fit it all into a surprisingly small amount of space, which is good, but it’s making me wonder whether we have left something vital out!
I’d quite like to write some posts from Malaysia, but I’m not sure whether I [...]

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Seven weird facts about me

The rules of this meme are to share seven weird facts about yourself. I didn’t think it would be too hard to think of seven weird things about myself, but actually, I am having to think quite hard. Perhaps this is due to a slow-working brain, rather than any lack of weirdness on my part, [...]

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