Lucy Mangan: Isn't reading, like, really, really great?:
This is intended as no slur upon [Hay] festival... It is one of those entities that, even if it's not really your thing, you are still happier for knowing it exists - like Wiltshire, perhaps, or Uncle Joe's mint balls. It is simply because books and reading are to me such a fiercely private ( Read more... )

Tired and jetlagged, but back. Though I did manage a few hours of something resembling sleep on the plane: having concluded I probably wasn't going to get to sleep, I tuned into the music choice of Brahms's Violin and Double Concertos (rather than potentially disturb other people with a light for reading), and, with my neck pillow supporting my ( Read more... )

Whale spotted in Thames:
Over the years dolphins and seals have been spotted in the Thames. Sperm whales have been seen in the Thames Estuary and porpoises have feasted on fish near Vauxhall Bridge, in central London.

And in related news, this morning I was asked by another visitor to the city where was Euston Station? as we were standing in the ( Read more... )