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A further look at the demolition of Anglia Square in Norwich on 5 October 2026, as work continues to transform this familiar part of the city.

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Norwich – Anglia Square Demolition (5 October 2026)
It still seems slightly strange to walk by the Anglia Square demolition site and see Gildengate House be taken apart bit by bit each day. There was a time in the 1990s that this was used to store t…
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October 5, 2026 at 3:38 PM
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Bagrati Cathedral has overlooked Kutaisi for more than a thousand years, although Ottoman destruction and a controversial modern reconstruction have substantially changed its appearance. It even lost its UNESCO recognition for being made rather less ruined.

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Kutaisi – Bagrati Cathedral
Standing prominently on Ukimerioni Hill above Kutaisi, Bagrati Cathedral is formally dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God and is one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks. The site w…
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October 5, 2026 at 11:39 AM
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A newly renovated memorial in Kutaisi remembers the Georgian servicemen killed during the five-day Russo-Georgian War of August 2008. Its new sculpture places a soldier and a woman on either side of the Georgian flag.

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Kutaisi – Memorial to the Heroes of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War
Near Kutaisi’s National Museum of Military Glory is this memorial to the Georgian servicemen killed during the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008. The conflict lasted only five days but caused subst…
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October 5, 2026 at 9:19 AM
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I visited Siam Thai near Kutaisi’s White Bridge, where I was asked to choose between Western and Thai levels of spice. I confidently chose Thai, creating an immediate opportunity to test my judgement. Fortunately, lunch remained a pleasant £11 success.

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Kutaisi – Siam Restaurant
We didn’t get much chance to have Asian food when we were travelling around the Balkans, so I was starting to crave that by the time I reached Kutaisi. This is the well-reviewed Siam Thai res…
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October 5, 2026 at 8:56 AM
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Kutaisi’s Chain Bridge stands on a crossing used since at least the fifth century. Its history includes wooden bridges, nineteenth-century chains, snow damage, several reconstructions and, more recently, small blue cars.

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Kutaisi – Chain Bridge
The Chain Bridge crosses the River Rioni in Kutaisi and is regarded as the oldest of the city’s surviving bridges. It was the first thing of note that I saw after walking down the mountain from my …
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October 2, 2026 at 10:36 AM
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The first monthly Indian meal took seven of us to Roti in Norwich. There was tender chicken tikka palak, excellent lemon rice, generous portions, a sneezing incident, one late arrival and some unauthorised beer sharing.

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Monthly Indian Meal 1 – Roti in Norwich
Now that I’ve finally launched the monthly Indian meal around Norfolk and Lowestoft, several years after first considering it, we began proceedings at Roti in Norwich. There is a democratic process…
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October 2, 2026 at 9:24 AM
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Omer Mujadžić’s Colporteuse is nearly a century old, although its newspaper seller and her enormous expression look unexpectedly contemporary.

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Belgrade – National Museum of Serbia – Colporteuse by Omer Mujadžić
This rather vibrant painting in the National Museum of Serbia is Colporteuse, painted by Omer Mujadžić (1903–1991) in 1929 or 1930 using oil on canvas. The French title refers to a female street ve…
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October 1, 2026 at 5:34 PM
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A short photographic update on the demolition of Anglia Square in Norwich on 30 September 2026. I published a longer look at the work the previous day, so this is simply the latest progress.

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Norwich – Anglia Square Demolition (30 September 2026)
Just a few extra photos to show the progress made since my previous post of the day before…..
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October 1, 2026 at 12:38 PM
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The Artichoke Hearts fought back from 4–2 down against the Red Lion, only to lose the deciding game and the match 5–4. An evening of concentrated leadership, structural problems, snacks and another heroic defeat.

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Norwich – Bar Billiards (Game 11 – Artichoke Hearts vs Red Lion)
With Luke overseas again, living the life of a modern-day Judith Chalmers, I was required to serve as both captain and vice-captain. What could possibly go wrong? After successfully completing the …
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October 1, 2026 at 10:43 AM
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After missing the airport bus in Kutaisi, I treated myself to a £6.90 Bolt taxi. My driver reassured me that I did not require a seat belt because he was a safe driver, which filled me with precisely zero confidence.

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Kutaisi Airport to City Centre
After landing in Kutaisi at a reasonable time of day, namely lunchtime, I realised that the slightly late arrival meant that I had missed the airport bus that departs every two hours. There was a w…
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October 1, 2026 at 10:02 AM
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A Wizz Air flight from Warsaw to Kutaisi involving an unexplained aircraft change, several shuttle buses and a middle seat allocated by the seating gods. Fortunately, I slept through most of the flight itself.

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Wizz Air Flight from Warsaw Chopin Airport to Kutaisi
After spending the night at Warsaw Airport, sustained by lounge coffee and an increasingly theoretical sense of alertness, it was time for the 09:10 flight to Kutaisi. I wasn’t entirely excit…
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October 1, 2026 at 9:42 AM
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An 1826 Norwich newspaper report reveals an early attempt to investigate what we might now call benefit fraud, involving home visits, eligibility checks and the proposed publication of claimants’ names.

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200 Years Ago in Norwich : An Early Attempt to Investigate Benefit Fraud in Norwich
“The Churchwardens of the parish of St. Clement, in this city, summoned a vestry meeting on Tuesday last, at the request of the parishioners, to take into consideration the best means of dete…
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September 30, 2026 at 9:54 AM
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There was finally some visible activity at the Anglia Square demolition site in Norwich today, so naturally I took some photographs of all the excitement.

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Norwich – Anglia Square Demolition (29 September 2026)
I haven’t posted much about the Anglia Square demolition recently as not much has happened. However, as I was walking by today there was finally some more action. And here are some photos of …
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September 29, 2026 at 1:06 PM
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A village foundation, an Ottoman landowner and a remarkably productive seventeen-year-old artist. Pavle Simić’s 1835 painting tells Neuzine’s traditional origin story.

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Belgrade National Museum of Serbia – Pavle Simić’s Founding of the Village of Neuzine
This detailed historical scene is Founding of the Village of Neuzine, painted by Pavle Simić in 1835 using oil on canvas. Simić was born in 1818, meaning that he was only around seventeen when he c…
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September 29, 2026 at 9:33 AM
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James joined me for an executive lunch at Mowgli in Norwich, where smart surroundings and friendly service were let down by muted sauces and cautious seasoning. At least Monday’s half-price offer softened the disappointment.

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Norwich – Mowgli
Moving away from the Balkans for a few posts, I’ve been trying to find someone to take me to Mowgli for a while. After discovering the half-price curry offer running on Mondays this month, I …
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September 28, 2026 at 2:54 PM
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Inside Mostar’s Franciscan church, the shattered memorial to Bishop Paškal Buconjić has been preserved with its fractures and missing sections left visible as a permanent record of the building’s wartime destruction.

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Mostar – Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Damaged Memorial to Bishop Paškal Buconjić)
Preserved inside the Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul is this shattered memorial to Paškal Buconjić, a Franciscan friar who became the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Mos…
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September 28, 2026 at 11:17 AM
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The Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul was the most memorable church interior of our Balkans trip, with an enormous and exceptionally colourful mosaic covering its apse.

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Mostar – Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul
During our wanderings around Mostar, Jonathan and I visited the Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul, where the modern interior proved substantially more colourful than I had expected. The en…
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September 28, 2026 at 11:06 AM
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A distressed British lion, a V-1 flying bomb and some decidedly unsubtle wartime messaging. I’ve written about this Serbian-language propaganda poster displayed at the SASA Gallery in Belgrade.

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Belgrade – SASA Gallery of Visual Arts & Music – V-1 Propaganda Poster
Among the exhibits at the SASA Gallery of Visual Arts and Music in Belgrade was this collection of Serbian-language propaganda posters from the Second World War. The exhibition, Even in Captivity –…
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September 28, 2026 at 10:39 AM
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Pub Beer ti&ja is one of Mostar’s best reviewed craft beer venues, offering local Cooltura beers, friendly service and the particularly useful ability to accept cards. My international beer research was slightly weakened by forgetting what one of them tasted like.

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Mostar – Pub Beer ti&ja
While searching for craft beer in Mostar, this was one of the best reviewed venues in the city and so it seemed only polite to pop into Pub Beer ti&ja. It is next to a shopping centre and proba…
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September 28, 2026 at 10:06 AM
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Five distorted cast-iron figures stand opposite the French Embassy in Sarajevo, commemorating French military personnel who died while serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Sarajevo – Memorial to French Soldiers (Les Gardiens de l’Espace Memorial)
We encountered this unusual memorial while walking through Sarajevo and it commemorates the French military personnel who died while serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The work is Les Gardiens de l…
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September 27, 2026 at 4:12 PM
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Our accommodation in Split did not match what we had booked, and the owners refused to provide the correct option. Fortunately, Booking.com arranged a refund and found us somewhere else at short notice.

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September 27, 2026 at 3:01 PM
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A moderately unsettling portrait from the National Museum of Serbia. I neither particularly liked nor understood it, which naturally meant that I needed to write an entire blog post about it.

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Belgrade – National Museum of Serbia – Vladimir Veličković’s Portrait of an Unknown Man
I’ve finished the chronological run of my Balkans posts, but there is still plenty that I feel the need to witter on about. This news will no doubt excite all three regular readers. This work…
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September 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM
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Four Balkan countries, eight principal destinations, several beautiful journeys and one deeply questionable minibus. I’ve mapped the complete route and attempted to summarise sixteen days without writing another sixteen posts.

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Balkans Trip – Map and Summary
Part of the reason for my Balkans trip was to fill some gaps in my travels. I had previously visited Belgrade, but nowhere else in Serbia, while Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were entirely …
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September 27, 2026 at 12:44 PM
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The chronological end of my Balkans trip, featuring Zadar Airport’s mysterious security arrangements, a pleasantly uneventful Wizz Air flight and several passengers racing towards a delayed bus.

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Balkans Trip Day 16 – Wizz Air Flight from Zadar to Warsaw Chopin Airport
After the excitement of getting to Zadar Airport, the rest was something of an anti-climax. The airport is very much lacking in seating, so I found a place to sit and wait outside, but it all felt …
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September 27, 2026 at 12:13 PM
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Zadar Airport’s business lounge seats around twelve people, making admission a matter of timing and optimism. Inside were notionally free crisps, an uninspiring beer and a cupboard determined to conceal its contents from me.

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Balkans Trip Day 16 – Zadar – Zadar Airport Business Lounge
The airport lounge in Zadar is small, with seating for only around twelve people and so there was no guarantee that I’d get in. When I arrived, the receptionist checked and she confirmed that…
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September 26, 2026 at 9:12 PM