Interval notes: All the beautiful people, darling

All the beautiful people, darling, are at the opera house tonight. They’re wearing their tasteful sparkles, darling. At interval their drinks order’s laid out. Atop the bar, an isle in the crowd, a row of champagne bottles direct their corks: To a man with an eye-patch who conducts with a dress ring of diamanté. At

look – really look

I will be 80 this year here in my flat only a mile and a half from where I was born. I have tried to lead by example, by plunging my narrow balcony into the principality of hanging gardens. Concrete is brutal. It needs softening. Plants should have dominion. We breakfast amidst the crisp verdure