If you have £1.2 million...

This looks like it would be a great way to spend it!

Efforts to Reverse the Beeching Cuts

Didcot to Southampton.

To Save the Realm, First 10 Lines, Chapter 3: Ivor Wyvern, QC

Tucked away at the far side of a quiet garden square in Kensington was what looked like a two-story country cottage. It might have been the cozy home of well-off pensioners, but it was not. Brock skirted the high spikey wrought-iron fence that surrounded the square and came onto the porch of the house. The polished brass plaque set into stone to the right of the door indicated that the house held the law offices of Ivor Wyvern, QC. He stood on the porch for a moment admiring its simple, unadorned Doric columns. then he nonchalantly turned around to survey the square. (At Amazon.)

Exclusive from the Grauniad

The 10 best Westerns.

Buy Me Bloody Book, You Lot!

At Amazon!

Big Cats in Britain

This one in Somerset.

On Martlesham Heath

Two jaws broken in one day.

Cargo Bikes

In central London.

Beach Huts for Sale

From the Telegraph.

Know Your Galaxy

From the Independent.

To Save the Realm, first 10 lines of Chapter 2

The street outside the St. Albans Hotel was misty gray with rain. Great pots of colorful, raindrop-covered pansies stood on both sides of the hotel's frosted glass doors. A continuous train of black taxis was swooshing through the puddles that flowed out from the curb on Bedford Place. The weather seemed to Brock to be more like December than mid-October. He was wearing a heavy wool sweater, navy blue trousers, and a charcoal grey overcoat. He didn't like to carry an umbrella, so he had on a woolen Irish hat that he'd bought in a shop yesterday to keep the rain off his head. From To Save the Realm at Amazon.

For £500,000

A home with your own island in the River Avon.

And in Mycenae...

Asian carp have invaded Kentucky Lake. This is bad news for the native species--bass, crappie, bream--that evolved in these waters.

Buy Me Bloody Book, You Lot!

At Amazon!

In Orpington, Kent

The death of the High Street.

From the Bournemouth Daily Echo

1,800 take part in the 1.4 mile Pier-to-Pier swim.

Nice Shot of the Milky Way

On Hovis Hill, Dorset.

From the Exeter Express & Echo

Sometimes, you have to love the British...

They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore

Well, maybe they do...I dunno. But these men are fading away every day. Bomber Command lost 56,000 fliers in WWII.

Ministers Given 11% Pay Rise

£74,000 per year!

Cadbury Castle

One of my favorite places to have visited in Britain. The model for Abbott Edge, the hill fort that plays a central part in To Save the Realm.

Phoenix Pictures

Sent a copy of the tome to Phoenix Pictures today.

To Save the Realm, first 10 lines of first chapter (Mycenae, Tennessee)

Brock Coole sat up and wondered for a moment where he was. He swung his stockinged feet over the edge of the bed,reached for his terry-cloth robe, and pulled it over his shoulders. He was not used to this cold and damp. He had been in this room in a small hotel in Bloomsbury since Thursday night. The hotel was one of many tourist hotels in a row of converted Edwardian townhouses on Bedford Place near the British Museum. His room was a quiet one on the fourth floor. In it there was an overstuffed chair, a table with a lamp, and a quite comfortable bed covered by a soft white chenille bedspread.

Outdoor cinema, concerts, and plays

Watch Quadrophenia at Brighton Beach!

Save the Roadside Cafes!

They have a lot more character than the megastation cafes, and I would wager better food...

Best of British

According to the Independent.

From the Hull Daily Mail

10,000 bees invade the County Hall in Beverley. Glad to see there are so many!

And in Mycenae

2,500 boats on the lake...

Shed of the Year, 2013

Very nice, with a boat for a roof!

Nice Duty If One Can Get It...

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at the beach.

Exclusive from the Grauniad

A clip from a new documentary about the making of the Beatles film Help!.

Buy Me Bloody Book!

At Amazon!