Bulgaria with Noodles

  This is probably going to be my last blog post about Perrott Hill. Yes, it has been rather enjoyable to look back on my four years at PHS and perhaps it has brought back a few happy memories for one or two former pupils.   I have always hated organised sports, as anyone who has read my blog posts about the London Water Closet will already know. However, at Perrott Hill there were two school sports that I rather enjoyed.   At PHS, all the children (or certainly all of the boys) were allocated to the “four games”. “First game” was a bit serious, for those who could be playing in the Under 13 matches against other schools and “third game” was for those who might be playing in the Under 11 matches. This meant that the “second” and “fourth” games were for the oddbods, those who would not be playing in school matches, those who were a bit physically challenged or (like me) did not really want to be there. I really enjoyed playing cricket with the fourth game. A sunny af...

Memory does not really work in straight lines. If anything, you recall things in circles, returning to the present and then back around into the past. Before I leave Perrott Hill, I must make mention of one of my greatest triumphs at P.H.S.: my production of Arsenic and Old Lace . This three act play was never written for children, so it was a bit ambitious, but I am proud of the way that my young cast rose to the challenge. Just in case you do not know the plot, I will briefly sum it up for you. Two elderly sisters, Abby and Martha Brewster, magnificently played by Victoria Hume and Claire Morgan-Smith, live in an old house with their loony nephew, Teddy (Eoin Roe), who thinks that he is President Teddy Roosevelt.  Abby and Martha are well known for their kindness and good deeds. At the start of the play, Abby is having tea with the vicar, the Reverend Harper (George Russell). Another nephew, Mortimer, is a drama critic and in love with the vicar’s daughter, Elaine. Adam Ogilv...

I think that I ought to go back to my reminiscences of Oxford, as there is something quite important that I have more or less left out: the Exeter College chapel. It is one of my favourite buildings, Gilbert Scott’s flamboyant pastiche of Saint-Chapelle in Paris, and a riot of Victorian gothic architecture. The Burne-Jones tapestry, The Adoration of the Magi , is rather splendid. Before "second hall" on a Sunday evening, it was my habit to go to chapel. After the service, there was a glass (or maybe two) of sherry in the chaplain's rooms. As well as attending Sunday evening services, I actually lived right next door to the chapel when I had rooms in the Margary quad. Sitting at my desk, I could sometimes hear the organ’s notes. Exeter College chapel was also the setting of a memorable production of Murder in the Cathedral , in which yours truly was the Second Priest. The chapel was the domain of the college chaplain, the Rev Graham Shaw. When I did rather badly in Cla...

Someone called Neil Loughbrough recently wrote this in Facebook about halal meat in the UK. My reply is in italics.    In some places — including hospitals and certain high streets — halal has quietly become the default option. That doesn’t sit right with me. In Britain, people should be able to choose food that matches their own beliefs, traditions, or personal preferences. No one should feel pushed into eating something they didn’t knowingly choose, or feel they have to go hungry, or be labelled as racist simply for questioning the food options available. Hospitals are a good example. When someone is ill, stressed, or recovering, the last thing they need is to be told there’s only one type of meat available — especially if it doesn’t align with their own beliefs or comfort. A hospital should offer non‑halal as the standard option, with halal available for those who want it. That’s basic fairness. I also think councils should have the power to ensure that high streets don’t e...

Just before we left Samothraki, I managed to finish Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts. It is a rather long book (935 pages altogether, but a fair bit is taken up with notes and a detailed index). What is unusual about Napoleon the Great ? Well, the most obvious thing is that Roberts nails his colours to the mast, declaring that Napoleon was not another Stalin, Pol Pot or Adolf Hitler. He was much bigger and better than that. He was not just a brilliant general (Wellington famously said that Napoleon’s hat on the battlefield was worth 40,000 men). He was a superb administrator, a reformer and someone who saved France from the worst excesses of the French Revolution and at the same time he preserved what was good in that tumultuous event. He was also a patron of the Arts and a true son of the Enlightenment. Three characteristics of Napoleon make him particularly admirable: his personal charm and ability to communicate with ordinary people and understand their point of view; his p...

Well, you are obviously not interested in our holiday in Greece and you will want to know what has been happening with Napoleon the Great . Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland were crushing victories, but Eylau and Wagram were not. Napoleon was in the habit of producing a lot of "fake news" after his battles, minimizing French losses and exaggerating the number of enemy soldiers killed, wounded and captured. Other indications of a victory were the numbers of guns and standards captured. Napoleon could also be a bit imaginative with those as well. Anyway, he has now divorced Josephine and married Marie-Louise of Austria, He is also preparing for his invasion of Russia in 1812.   Archondissa Beach Hotel is rather lovely. Quite a few of the guests seem to have been here before. As well as Greeks, Bulgarians and Romanians, there are also some French. There is not a lot to do here, apart from swimming, taking Tina for a walk and sunbathing.  After Fonias Gorge, we went to another plac...

Yesterday morning we walked along the road from Archnondissa for about twenty minutes and then we came to the Fonias River.  We walked along the path, marked with large red splodges of paint, but at one point we wandwered away from the river, so we had to come back down. The path was rocky, narrow and uneven in places, but we trudged on for about three-quarters of an hour.  Then we came to the famous pool (well, the first of three) and the waterfall. There was no one else there, so we had the pool to ourselves. The sides of the gorge were steep on three sides and the pool was deep and emerald-green. The water was icy cold! I was really hot and sweaty after the walk, but the coldness of the water was really quite a shock. I am NOT going to include any photos of yours truly having a swim, as I do not want any comments about harpoons, Captain Ahab and the great white whale. Tina is a brave little doggie, so she also had a little swim. Irena also came for a swim, but like me she d...