Holidays
Barometer
Space to dream Richard Branson’s dream of commercial space flights has suffered a setback after a prototype craft crashed. But…
A pivotal moment on a Portuguese beach
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Diary
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Dear Mary
Q. When someone gives you anti-ageing cream as a present, is that an insult or a compliment? — A.O., Provence…
Long life
It’s August in Tuscany, and the market towns are eerily quiet, presumably because most of their inhabitants are off on…
Holiday kit – should it stay or should it go?
One inarguably good thing about electronic publishing is that it solves that old quandary about what books to pack for…
Dear Mary
Q. At a drinks or a dinner party, when very attentive waiters are hovering, I tend to let them keep…
A land of extremes
A few years ago I would have quite liked to live in America. I’m not sure now. For one thing,…
Diary
It’s been a strange summer. After a stroke, holidays are not what they used to be. We went to Juan-les-Pins…
Low life
This time last year the postman delivered a picture postcard depicting a village square in Provence. The photograph on the…
Learn to switch off
Why not give your smartphone a holiday?
Real life
‘Piccolo problemo.’ Luigi, the hotel manager, delivered the fateful news as he served me my first lemon soda of the…
Dear Mary
Q. I know this seems petty but last year, on our villa holiday, my brother-in-law always took the best chair…
Why don’t any of my friends own holiday homes?
Hugo Rifkind 9 August 2014 9:00 am
This is to be one of those columns that makes the writer faintly wish there wasn’t an internet. It would…