An eccentric city with a live-and-let-live vibe, London is a place where people can be free to be themselves, find the communities to which they belong and write whatever they want. There are, in a sense, many Londons for writers to explore.

Look at Facebook: Every company moved their brand presence to Facebook, sending out messages for their customers to receive. Now, you have to pay to send out your messages to people who chose to follow you. [You’ve become] a boiling frog.

It is a pity Tubbs was not an Egyptologist enamoured of the kings or even an enlightened collector, for he had an uncanny gift and could not walk two feet without kicking up an outsize alabaster thumb, a tauricornous amulet, a gold needle, an unnameable something-or-other black with tar […].

Dolly Varden is the staple catch. To a point that, after two days, we find ourselves feeling guilty trying to shake them free from our fly or giving plenty of slack in the hope that another Dolly finds early freedom. […] Often the biggest challenge of hooking a big trout is avoiding Dollies.