I have a window seat on the flight back from Cologne. I’m a creature of habit and whilst I don’t mind this seat on a short flight, on a long haul I always end up feeling rather trapped and stuck in my place. Looking out at the wing, which is obscuring my view as we descend...
Brussels. The centre of European bureaucracy and, if you read the right newspapers, the enemy of our proud British traditions. Leaving the Euro debate alone for the moment, Brussels has been accused at various points in the last decade of trying to force UHT milk on us, dilute...
If an alien life form were to land unannounced backstage at a concert in 2012, they would make some basic assumptions about human behaviour which I once would have thought unfounded. Now I'm not so sure. One of the many changes I have seen in my time on the world touring...
I remember walking down the Nanjing Road in Shanghai a couple of years ago and being offered goods aplenty. This week however it seems worse than ever. As I get further down the road, I can always see people suddenly step out from beside the shops and walk alongside me asking me...
Walking around Beijing, I find it hard to tell whether my lips are numb because of the cold, snow-laden wind blowing in my face, or the Szechuan peppers which were liberally sprinkled on my lunch. If you've never had them before, their effect on your mouth is an exciting...
From the comfort of the train speeding through the Spanish countryside, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is summer. The sun is high and the deep blue stretches far into the distance, the only clouds visible on the horizon look like chalk cliffs. But the thermometer...
Sir Colin Davis. Un nom, une...
The more astute amongst you will note that I have made scant comment in my periodical postcards of the other opera which is being performed here in Aix. Mozart, I hear, was quite a clever chap. He knew how to write a half decent tune for a start, and there are a fair few of...
Bless Maxine Kwok-Adams! For those of you who are not aware, Maxine is our resident fashionista of the 1st violin section. If column inches on a well known social networking site were the only measure of a person's popularity then MK-A would surely rival John Lennon in those...
