Part I M came to stay. Suitcase loaded full of chocolate and almonds and pesto and all the things you can't get out here, or can...

I say yes to everything.  Salsa classes, circuits sessions, Downton Abbey evenings, Mexican brunches, rooftop parties, housewarmings...

Here, they call passion fruit maracuya. There are three different colours of bougainvillea on the walk to the pool alone. Right now ...

They send me photos of daffodils poking up through snowy ground, tell me they have the heating on still. I send them pictures of hi...

We make for the river early Sunday morning, take a couple of boats, a picnic, swimwear, head out to the sandbanks. Eat perfectly ripe p...

The heat, which hits you when you step out of buildings, out of cars, from the air-conditioned cool, hits you like walking into a sauna...

I arrived a week ago yesterday. Left a cold, bright London, flew through the night. Arrived to the heat and the sunshine, the dust, the...