WOTblog

recommend Verb 1. to advise as the best course or choice 2. to praise or commend: I would wholeheartedly recommend his books 3. to make attractive or advisable: she has everything to recommend her [Latin re- again + commendare to commend]

by M.E. Romero I've just come back from a visit to Madrid, a city I only discovered 2 years ago. An embarrasing fact given that I was born there ( by chance as my parents spent only a few years there) and I've lived many years in another Spanish city, Barcelona, close enough to allow many week-end breaks but, as it's often the case, one knows better other countries than one's own. Madrid has been a pleasant discovery and very timely too. If I had known this city some years back when I was younger and easily dazzled by all things "designer" I would have dismissed it perhaps as a little rancid and passe. As it is, after 20 years living in London and a few less in Barcelona and having experienced the devastatingly bland effects that themed businesses bring about in the name of gentrification, it was a wonderful experience. I found myself realising that the uniqueness of Madrid lies in being able to find glimpses of long gone normality, right in the city centre...

"He smiled. There was indeed something rather incongruous in Lucy's moral outburst over Mr. Eager. It was as if one should see the Leonardo on the ceiling of the Sistine. He longed to hint to her that not here lay her vocation; that a woman's power and charm reside in mystery, not in muscular rant. But possibly rant is a sign of vitality: it mars the beautiful creature, but shows that she is alive. After a moment, he contemplated her flushed face and excited gestures with a certain approval. He forebore to repress the sources of youth." E.M. Forster: A room with a view

by Sally Wells Our City-savvy London girl, Sally Wells says... whether you’re just visiting , new in town or an old regular, don’t let London overwhelm you. The sheer enormity of London can feel intimidating, but if you centre your activities on any one day around a small, manageable part of it, you can keep a sense of perspective and realise that it’s just a series of villages, all with their own focal points and local inhabitants. For a cheering and car-free destination in the centre , I recommend the South Bank. There are so many moods along the way, from the Design Museum beyond Tower Bridge to the Festival Hall just behind Waterloo. Whatever the weather, in a sociable or a solitary mood, I find something along the South Bank of the river to satisfy me. If you look at an out-of-date guide book you won’t hear about it. Years ago it was a bleak and under-exploited part of town with few places of fun to attract the crowds; over the past decade I’ve watched it develop a really good sce...

by Sally Wells As a rule I reckon it’s advisable to save ranting for the things in life you feel truly indignant or passionate about. All day whingeing about irritating trivia is tedious and pointless and debilitating. That said, everyone has minor moans of the “bloody hell, what’s going on here?” variety, so here, for starters and guaranteed to bring out the bombastic in me is ... Personal Grooming on Public Transport. By PGPT, I don’t mean the relatively minor transgression of putting on make-up on the tube. If someone wants to gurn into a compact mirror whilst dabbing their face with a sticky sponge or risk eyeball injury using lash curling tongs whilst lurching round bends on the Northern Line, that’s fine by me, so long as they don’t indicate via the medium of filthy looks that they resent the attention of onlookers. After all, if you will make a public display of your beauty routine, it’s a bit rich to react like someone’s just barged into the bathroom without knocking when your...