Blog

  • Lions… #Switzerland #travel (almost) #SilentSunday

    I spent a day in Winterthur recently – it’s Switzerland’s sixth largest city and is around twenty minutes east of Zürich by train. I’ve been there many times, but this time, they had lions. 120-odd local businesses were given lions to decorate, and these were set up in the town centre. Here are a few…

  • Book news – and other things… #travel #books

    I didn’t keep the date of the day when I first saw my (pen) name in print. I couldn’t even tell you the year, now, but it was in the 1990s and it was a short story in The People’s Friend, the first of 50-60 stories and articles I wrote for them and a couple…

  • Cover Love – with Julia Gibbs… #books #amreading

    I read once that the main purpose of a book cover is to attract the reader’s attention. Obviously, it should have something to do with the subject of the book too – you wouldn’t put an image of a vegetable garden on a book called How to Crochet, but the cover needn’t tell the story…

  • The Summer of ’23… #writing #travel #books

    It’s been a mixed one here – we’ve had everything from searing heat to days on end of wall-to-wall rain. We’re back in a searing heat phase now, with no rain in sight until the end of the coming week. Lake Constance is over half a metre lower than average for the time of year,…

  • The start of summer ’23

    It’s been a long time coming, but at long last we’ve had some lovely summery weather here in N.E. Switzerland, and I’ve been out and about. Last week started with a trip to Zürich Zoo, something I haven’t done for at least a decade. It’s a good zoo, with huge enclosures for the animals, but…

  • Cover Love – with Amanda James… #books #amreading

    I read once that the main purpose of a book cover is to attract the reader’s attention. Obviously, it should have something to do with the subject of the book too – you wouldn’t put an image of a vegetable garden on a book called How to Crochet, but the cover needn’t tell the story…

  • Sculptures in Switzerland #SilentSunday #travel

    A visit to the industrial area of our small lakeside town… Next week, we have another Cover Love post, this time with writer Amanda James – see you then!

  • The year the lake spilled over… #travel #books

    In Problems at the Lakeside Hotel, one of the main challenges hotel owners Rico and Stacy have to face is a rising – then overflowing – Lake Constance. Having to issue guests with wellies to get to the restaurant for dinner each night must be in the top ten of every hotel manager’s worst nightmares……

  • Out now: Problems at the Lakeside Hotel #books #newrelease

    Book three in the Escape to Switzerland series is out – tap HERE to see the entire series in your local Amazon Store! To celebrate, Problems… is just 99p etc worldwide this week, and the other two are 99p/c in the UK and US too. It’s not all going smoothly at the Lakeside Hotel… When…

  • Cover Love – with Helen Pryke… #books #amreading

    I read once that the main purpose of a book cover is to attract the reader’s attention. Obviously, it should have something to do with the subject of the book too – you wouldn’t put an image of a vegetable garden on a book called How to Crochet, but the cover needn’t tell the story…

Got any book recommendations?