Stella

Travel 2018 – Day 1, York

Friday, 6th July 2018 – York With the lure of Europe’s first pop-up Shakespearean theatre, the Rose, to tempt us north to York, we decided it was a good excuse for a short break in a city I used to know well after numerous trips there with school or for that matter with my parents….

Running 2018 – J P Morgan Chase, Battersea Park, London

Wednesday, July 4th – J P Morgan Chase, Battersea Park, London With the sun still baking down and the UK in the middle of a heat wave the likes of which we haven’t experienced since sometime in the 1970s, it really wasn’t running weather (at least not for me – I’m a cold weather runner)…

Food/Drink 2018 – Balans Seven Dials Café, Aquavit, London

Saturday, 30th June 2018 – Balans Seven Dials Café, Aquavit, London In London on a boiling hot day for a trip to the theatre (of which more elsewhere), we were at a bit of a loss as to where to go between the show ending and our dinner reservation nearby. A stroll north from Saint…

Theatre 2018 – The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Noel Coward Theatre, London

Saturday, 30th June 2018 – The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Noel Coward Theatre, London London theatre these days seems to be in the throes of a slightly odd period, where it’s still wall-to-wall musicals (gods help us), many of them old, some of them revivals, some of them new but rehashing old music, and the odd…

Food/Drink 2018 – Bar Encore, Olive Tree, Towcester

Friday, 29th June 2018 – Bar Encore, Olive Tree, Towcester Friday night after a long day in a six-hour conference call and with the weather hot and dry as it has been for the last two weeks, I really didn’t fancy cooking dinner, so we headed out on foot to test run the new bar…

Travel 2018 – Hoteliers! We Need To Talk!

Travel 2018 – Towels! Dear Hoteliers! We really need to talk about towels! Many of you can now relax because you do provide good quality, decent sized towels (and please note that plural!) for your guests. Which is as it should be. They’re paying good money, often very good money, to stay in your establishments…

Travel 2018/2019 – Where Next?

2018/2019 – Baden-Baden, Berlin, Colmar, Freiburg, Helsinki, Kyiv, Porto, Strasbourg, Vienna, York Now we’re back from France thoughts inevitably turn to where we might go next, because with just 25 week days to play with in a year, planning is essential. Actually, the next trip is a small UK one, as we’re off to York…

Travel/Food 2018 – France and Spain (but only a little bit)!

Saturday, 5th May/Wednesday, 23rd May 2018 – Home, Hull, Rotterdam, Epernay, Etoges, Troyes, Bordeaux, Pau, Pugnac, Blaye, Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, Pau, Saint Jean Pied de Port, Bilbao Gotta love a road trip! Here’s an approximate map of where we went… I had more to say that has since been added, but there was laundry to…

Travel/Food 2018 – French Road Trip, Days 18 and 19, Larrabetzu, Bilbao, Portsmouth, Home

Tuesday, May 22nd/Wednesday, May 23rd – Days 18 and 19, Larrabetzu, Bilbao, Portsmouth, Home Up early, we found the drive to the ferry port was very easy, and very quick, from the hotel. We hadn’t booked breakfast, because we figured on getting something on the ferry, and so check out was quick and easy, even…

Travel/Food 2018 – French Road Trip, Day 17, Pau, Gan, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Larrabetzu, Amorebieta

Monday, May 21st – Day 17, Pau, Gan, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Larrabetzu, Amorebieta I was woken up early by the sound of the street cleaning machines trundling around the Place Gourmande site on Place Georges Clemenceau, so between the noisy revellers the night before and the local council’s street cleaning department, I’d managed about 5 hours sleep….