Tea Up!

Lucien Hugoniot-Tissot in Arcadia

Bought in the recent past from a dealer of many decades standing who is in the process of clearing his rooms a magnificent Lucien Hugoniot-Tissot Hand Tool/Vice dating from the years between 1915 and 1925.  To be found in the hushed wings of my website at Just in, Sir! and for immediate sale to all those with an eye along with a number of other items most rare and wondrous.

Letters From Nineveh

The Lost Diary Revisited

My review of Chris Yates' 'The Lost Diary' which originally appeared on Caught by the River in  February 2014 is revisited via today's Caught by the River Newsletter which the site sends out every Friday and to which you may subscribe here.

Trout Reels for the Soul

Bought most recently and for immediate sale to ladies & gentlemen passers-by of Between-the-Wars years a number of Trout Reels for the Soul which may be found 'In the Shop Window',  at the glazed counter in an imaginary SW1 shop also known as 'Just in, Sir!' along with 'Under the Counter, Madam' ephemera relating to the Army & Navy Co-operative Society which dwelt previously in the pocket of a Col. Hoare.

A Paper Bag for the Soul: Fenton's of Colwyn Bay

The Diaries of C.H. Palmer

Published this week in the new issue of Fallon's Angler is my piece on the Diaries of C. H. Palmer 1933-1938 which emerged from an old cardboard box earlier in the year.  The diaries were contained within two innocent looking hard backed exercise books.  They read like the notebooks from a lost Orwell novel.  Should you wish to know more you may buy the magazine here.

The Bishopsgate Haunting

Return to Free-lance Island

In kitchens across Arcadia kettles are being boiled dry, Elgar is on the radiogram and dogs and cats are being kissed once again.  From the pantry the last drop of an old bottle of Victory Gin is being raised to all those heroes and heroines who made the days between the opening day of Port Eliot Festival and the closing night of Caught by the River Thames Festival such a magnificent inspiration and joy.  Oh yes! Indeed, 'we live under fantasy oak trees' as Gruff once sang and did again on Sunday night.  My good friend and comrade in arms the photographer Neil R. Thomson chronicled both weekends and his work can be seen in the districts known as here and there.