Commentary, News & Events

12th Summer

Posted on November 26, 2025

‘Safe and inbound,’ as Simon Le Bon once did sing.

Daiana and I have arrived to the States. The settling in requires us a few days, what with a 4 year old and jetlag. The early morning minutes gave me time to sort through the travel bits & bobs tucked away in the myriad of zip pockets in the camo day bag I found in a surplus shop on Folkestone High Street. Sifting through the detritus revealed mementos  from a well lived 12th summer season in the Costa Brava. Daiana and I burned the candle at both ends in those six months we were in the EU from May until the end of October. From the ruck  came a summer well lived: a key card from Hotel Arts in early October — my go to hotel since 2008

in Barcelona. A key card from my beloved Clifton Hotel in Folkestone where we stayed in August. A haunt of mine since 2003, what was once a Best Western is now Voco Clifton Hotel and has been renovated to a standard I’m confident in saying is on standard with what it was during its Edwardian heyday. We had room 108 for the first time and didn’t miss room 111 for an instant. Next appeared a business card from The Folkestone Wine Company.  A charming restaurant on The Bayle, this is where my darling Daiana and I have dined on fresh cheeses and oysters followed by lashings of fine French reds and whites since they opened up on The Bayle in the Autumn of 2018. Seven years gone now. My God where has it all gone to? It was by no means our only culinary destination in Folkestone. We had a gorgeous lunch in the Clifton’s Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and another at Wagamama — ginger udon noodles with chicken, of course. Operation dinner out included traditional first night at Rocksalt and a Thursday night nosh at Mark Sargent’s RestaurantMS. We needed all that fortifying for the Dream Hike we conducted again on the Friday from Dover back to Folkestone.

Lastly a business card from the Hotel NH Collection in Eindhoven, Holland. The last getaway for Daiana and I a mere week before we departed Spain permanently. It’s our new favorite hotel in Eindhoven. Previously we stayed at the NH Konginshof near Veldhoven for the Scale Model Challenge each October. But the hotel was packed out so we booked in at the Eindhoven NH on the advice of Margot Crombeeke. We were not disappointed in the slightest.

Eindhoven is a wonderful city with fantastic restaurants and the NH is right in the midst of it all. We had a glorious corner room. The Skybar for which the hotel is known for is reputed to be the best lounge in Eindhoven. We don’t doubt it. The views from the 15th floor were glorious but what eclipsed it was the menu and service. Like nothing one gets in the campos of Spain. Charming staff. Interesting drinks. Bespoke Vermouths. And the appetizer menu? Stunning! Belgian caviar and oysters. We indulged all four evenings we stayed at the hotel, remarking to each other how we wished we discovered the hotel sooner. I’d like to think there is always next year but as I sit here at my desk in Florida, I don’t think I’ll be back. SMC falls mid-October and that is rather a bad time for me now I’m living in Florida with our wee boy in school.

These were by no means our only get-aways over the summer season. We did two trips to the Soho Beach House in Sitges and an

unforgettable birthday weekend for Daiana in Ibiza. We kicked off the summer season with a wet and chilly weekend in Geel, Belgium for KMK’s Scale Model World concourso. We really enjoyed the entire weekend. The new location of the concourso is aces and the square where the hotel is in Geel is full of wonderful restaurants and lounges. We even managed to get away to Bruges on Thursday.

Summer was hot and sunny in Spain — as to be expected — and we ate innumerable dinners at La Caleta, BarK, Olivia Trattoria and Imako with friends and also just the two of us enjoying cold drinks and glorious sunsets.

It’s all behind us for now.

We’re settled in at our roost in Florida and couldn’t be happier. Still, saying goodbye to the Costa Brava is tinged with melancholy. We have developed some lovely friendships there and hope dearly we will see them

again. I’ll also miss our home. We took a run down single level dump with a pool and a glorious view of the Med and turned it into a jewel. I loved the home office where I wrote much of revisions for Book 1 and the opening 150 pages of Book 2. And after all, home is where the heart is, and our hearts are elsewhere. We’ve also left behind seven of our fury friends. I miss them dearly but they are now living on a beautiful farm just outside of Palafrugell where I receive daily photos of their lives. They are happy. We brought three of our little monkeys with us to the States and I am happy to report Squeak, Lily and Graci have adapted well to Florida living.

But for now, farewell Costa Brava. We’ll be back.

As always. The journey is everything.

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