http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-my-heart-was-singing-in-the-rain-1822432.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-my-heart-was-singing-in-the-rain-1822432.html <p>So posh he was – posh in the way only Cotswolds people can be: a truly exotic creature, as rare and doomed as a snow leopard. And he was standing in my kitchen. Suddenly he turned to complaining. "Damp," he said. "Too damp. That's the bloodear trouble."</p> Alex James Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-i-woke-up-and-it-was-a-different-world-1818174.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-i-woke-up-and-it-was-a-different-world-1818174.html <p>Fog, thick fog: an infinity of the stuff; murky endlessness that felt for a moment that it might crack like a huge egg and separate into pools of fluffy white mists and a golden yolk of sunshine. But it didn't. By noon the day had merely staggered towards a state of fine fizzing drizzle and given up on itself. From dawn to dusk it was as grey as an old towel.</p> Alex James Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-all-the-fun-of-the-fair-ndash-the-travellers-way-1814150.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-all-the-fun-of-the-fair-ndash-the-travellers-way-1814150.html <p>Lines of cars in both directions and where the lines crossed, just outside fudgey, hoity-toity Stow-on-the-Wold was a blat of almost unimaginable ugliness, stuck on the hillside. Civilisation slapped on top of nature like a Post-It note: the travellers' horse fair, caravans and trailers horrible in the rain. It was at least as ugly as Glastonbury – a locust mess of stinks, mud, stick-men with too many teeth, blob women with none. Even as we arrived, before we'd parked the car, our hearts beat faster, a sense of danger, revellers shouting, impatience building with the traffic, the glamour of youth and glimmering thighs specked with mud. </p> Alex James Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000