Diary of An English Courtesan

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Articles: 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120

Oxbridge Escorts
2007-11-03 17:17:00
The nice photo of Cambridge punts ('No rhyming slang now please' said the English Courtesan sternly to the sniggering readers) was purloined from the BBC as it seems relevant to today's theme of Oxbridge escorts....?Dear me!' said the English Courtesan. 'It seems Cambridge students are just as fabulously filthy as Oxford ones!'. The English Courtesan had been slightly mystified about why she was getting so many searches on the terms 'Oxbridge escorts' and 'Oxbridge escort service' this week. She is indeed an Oxford alumnus and an escort, which causes quite considerable hilarity to clients, but it's not exactly top of her search terms usually. All was revealed (except sadly the nudie photos of the said Oxbridge student escorts) when she chanced across an article in the Telegraph.Ah yes, the debate du jour on the funny little island that is England is whether prostitution is a good way to earn enough money to support yourself as a student, Oxbridge or otherwise. Our friends...

Fright Night At The English Courtesan's Again!
2007-10-31 05:04:00
You have to admit that the English Courtesan carves a pretty good pumpkin for her age. She thought she'd share it with the readers before she totters off in her pointy witch shoes to a suitably select witches and ghouls party with the ghoul du jour. If you click on the photo you'll notice her pumpkin has a special touch, not unlike the English Courtesan herself... ;-)Sing, my lovelies, sing now with Livvy: 'We're off to see [to] the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of...West...!' Ah no, the English Courtesan is not quite that silly as to reveal her precise location.This one goes out with a big lewd lick and a pair of pumpkin pies to the Beautiful Blue Chevalier, the nubile Nia Dark And Lovely (did I mention her fabulous boobies?) and the Pervaliciously Perfect Ptr Leeds, all of whom have been giving the English Courtesan some serious link loving over the past few weeks...thank you my dears, and a Happy Halloween to one and all!Technorati Tags: Courtesan, courtesans, escort, escorts...

Antique Of The Week II
2007-10-27 04:07:00
This week's post was supposed to be a debate on the impact of public policy decisions on perceptions of prostitution in nineteenth century Britain but the English Courtesan is having a vacuous moment... So instead of filth, the English Courtesan brings the readers...wait for it...an antique footstool! The English Courtesan would undoubtedly be the first to recognise that footstools can in fact fabulously filthy if you're a foot fetishist or small bottomed. The English Courtesan is smallish bottomed but she isn't a foot fetishist. She does however number one devotee to her pathologically thick-soled pedal extremities amongst her clients. More of that perhaps in a later post, subject to the foot fetishist's kind permission...Back to the filth, sorry, footstools! As the readers can see from the photo, this one is an absolute beauty. It's made of giltwood and dates from the nineteenth century. Usually the English Courtesan prefers her giltwood subtle, with perhaps a little English ...

Fright Night At The English Courtesan's
2007-10-24 14:30:00
Is anyone else expecting the frenemies to descend on them around Halloween? Have you ever wanted to scare the life out of an overstaying house guest with something truly wicked? If so, the English Courtesan has a wonderful treat for you and a truly foul trick for them, in the form of something Very Peculiar and Really Quite Vile. Oh, this is such a fabulous thing! Oh yes, it?s Fright Night round at the English Courtesan?s and you?re all invited! Assuming the photo hasn?t spoilt her thunder (you mustn?t look at it until she says so!) the English Courtesan?s Weird And Wondrous Thing Of The Week is?wait for it?are we all sitting comfortably?? Well we?re not sitting comfortably any more, because out poppeth that most vile and vicious of spooks, the Easy Chair Ghoul! Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll see him (her?) pop out...Oh, the nastiness of it! At this point the English Courtesan should explain she isn?t usually into gruesome Halloween stuff. She loves Halloween and she a...
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The English Courtesan is GOOD!
2007-10-21 00:55:00
OK, OK, so she?s not exactly a good girl in the traditional sense of the word, but the English Courtesan is in GOOD magazine.Question: What does the English Courtesan have in common with maggot therapy, shoemaking, beekeeping, hanging, letterpress printing and ship towing?Answer: She?s a traditional trade!You can read the article and see the fabulous illustrations by Jeffrey Middleton online here at GOOD magazine but in the meantime the English Courtesan naughtily pinched one of the said pictures for the readers? pleasure. If you?re after a printed copy of GOOD magazine, perhaps to frame but more likely to practise the sin of onanism over, it?s available in the US at Barnes and Nobles, Borders, B. Dalton, and on Follett's newsstands. GOOD magazine?s real home, just so the English Courtesan?s stalkers can pop over and visit the GOOD people instead of looking for Livvy, is in a building called The GOOD House in LA.Those of you who haven?t come across GOOD might like to know that it?s...

Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth at Tate Modern
2007-10-18 00:17:00
?Have any of the readers seen Doris? Crack?? asked the English Courtesan innocently. It?s at Tate Modern in London, whence the photo was purloined, and it?s there until April 6th 2008?Now that she has the readers? attention, the English Courtesan had better explain that the crack in question has nothing to do with buttocks, so all you roaring perverts might want to come back on Saturday for your weekly dollop of filth à la English Courtesan. Ditto for all you crack heads: it may hail from Colombia but it?s not that kind of crack so you can stop sniffling and go play out in Boujis with the young princes. No, the crack in question is a piece of conceptual art. It?s brilliant and devastating and hilarious and nauseating and at this point the English Courtesan is running out of appropriate adjectives so you?ll just have to go and visit the crack at Tate Modern yourselves.The crack is by a Colombian artist called Doris Salcedo. It?s called Shibboleth, which those readers who know their B...

Belle de Jour - Secret Diary Of A Call Girl II
2007-10-13 23:41:00
Those readers who haven?t seen Belle de Jour ? Secret Diary of a Call Girl - can catch up here. The English Courtesan had some reservations about episode 1, but episode 2 was a very different matter. This one made the English Courtesan a Belle believer?The plot summary is that Belle de Jour gets invited to an adults only party, meets a boorish Russian, makes her excuses and is just about to dive into a cab with a saucy author and his hot wife, when she checks her voicemail. Her sister just had a baby so she races off to the hospital, in hooker frock but sans hooker wig, and is met by her best friend Ben who got there before her. Belle de Jour holds the baby and then leaves, with a lingering glance back at the child in Ben?s arms. She is then driven home by Ben who asks about the wig in her handbag but is fobbed off.The plot line in itself is perhaps unremarkable but what the English Courtesan thought was so well portrayed in this episode of Belle de Jour ? Secret Diary of a Call Gir...

Belle de Jour ? Secret Diary Of A Call Girl I
2007-10-08 23:17:00
Fashionably late as ever, the English Courtesan finally got round to watching Belle de Jour ? Secret Diary of A Call Girl. Those of her readers who have yet to discover Belle might like to catch up on the latest episode at itv.com here.To be honest the English Courtesan was a little disappointed by the first episode but she decided to reserve judgement until she?d seen a bit more of the series. She?s glad she did because the second episode made her a total Belle de Jour believer as the readers will see on Saturday...The English Courtesan rarely watches TV but she?d been looking forward to this one as she?s a self-confessed aficionado of Belle de Jour?s blog, which you'll find in the Links Livvy Likes to the right. Those of you who?ve missed the Belle de Jour gossip might want to know that she was the original London call girl blogger. Rather remarkably, she has never been identified by the press. They eventually narrowed it down to a shortlist of two but both ?suspects? denied it. ...

Nice For The Weekend III
2007-10-06 23:15:00
Are we all sitting comfortably and imagining ourselves frolicking in the Fauvist-filled fields of Provence with the English Courtesan? Good...then the English Courtesan will send you careering straight towards the precipices of the Gorges du Verdon and continue with Nice for a long weekend! Hold onto your baguettes gentlemen, for today is the day of Big Thrills and Near Spills on the Côte d'Azur? As the English Courtesan?s international companions in crime and partners in pleasure will know, Day Three is for random things and Day Four is for day trips. Whilst Cannes and Monaco are within easy reach of Nice, and the Italian border is just a few hours drive away if you fancy an international hop, the Gorges du Verdon would be the English Courtesan?s choice of day trip. This dramatic canyon stretches between Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and Castellane and makes the perfect escape for a frisky bit of back to nature. With peaceful green rivers in which to paddle with one?s paramour and stony ...

Nice For The Weekend II
2007-10-03 01:47:00
Are we all sitting comfortably and imagining ourselves basking beneath the lavender-scented sunshine of the Côte d'Azur? Good...then the English Courtesan will plunge you into chilly water and continue with Nice for a long weekend!As those who have travelled with the English Courtesan will know, Day Three is her favourite day for discovering random things on any international trip...There are plenty to choose from on the Côte d'Azur, but arguably the biggest Random Thing in Nice is a 2.8 metre underwater statue of the Virgin Mary, nicknamed ?Our Lady of The Seabed?, which was put on a reef off the Cap de Nice by firemen on the instructions of Nice?s mayor in 1968. The English Courtesan still doesn?t understand what that was all about but she hopes the readers will write in if they do?As the readers may recall, the English Courtesan is partial to hunting down Virgin Marys in peculiar places and both the Paramour and the English Courtesan love to scuba dive. This being Day Three, th...

Nice For The Weekend I
2007-09-29 02:13:00
?And the answer was?the Côte d'Azur or to be more specific, Nice! The previous clues were the Gorges du Verdon and a piece of Matisse's 'Tempête à Nice' of 1919. That brings us nicely to the English Courtesan?s post on Nice for the weekend...Aaaaah, the beautiful Côte d'Azur! Where does one even start on the delights of a city break in Nice? Probably in bed with one?s paramour so let?s start with the topic of nice hotels in Nice. Good hotels in Nice include the Hotel La Perouse, Hotel Grimaldi and Palais de la Méditerranée but the English Courtesan?s personal favourite is the utterly over-the-top 1912 grande dame that is the Negresco. Those of you who haven?t been to the rose-domed Negresco yet should hurry. The English Courtesan fears it?s only a matter of time before the deliciously turquoise bedrooms and shocking pink restaurant chairs get a makeover and become a sleek and soulless slice of satyriasis. Not that there?s anything wrong with satyriasis in the proper context as ...

La Courtisane Est Toujours...
2007-09-25 17:13:00
'Mais comme elle est gentille!' s'écrièrent les chers lecteurs. 'Puisque la première partie de la clef ne nous a rien donné, La Courtisane Anglaise, dont l'âme est si juste et généreuse, nous a donné une deuxième!'Technorati Tags: courtesan, courtesans, escort, escorts, travel, cluesThe English Courtesan...naughty but nice! xxx

La Courtisane Est À...
2007-09-22 23:32:00
'Mais où est-elle, La Courtisane Anglaise?' s'écrièrent les chers lecteurs.Mais la Courtisane ne répondit rien... ;-)Technorati Tags: Courtesan, courtesans, escort, escorts, travel, companionThe English Courtesan...naughty but nice! xxx

Antique Of The Week
2007-09-19 14:20:00
It's high time the English Courtesan had another Antique of The Week and this week's find comes courtesy of the Clevedon Salerooms in Bristol. It goes under the hammer tomorrow, Thursday 20th, at 10.30am... What is it that has piqued the English Courtesan's fancy this time? That would be the Scary Box for you to hide your secrets in! This little beauty has an engraved crest to the top with the motto 'Beware' in a delightful 19th century take on a snouts-out warning. It's made of white onyx and the English Courtesan has a feeling it may have been French and was brought back to the UK where the motto was added later. It measures 22.5 cm wide, which is just the right size for a collection of billets doux although probably not big enough to fit any actual paramours in. Unless they're small furry animals. Let's not go there!There's no clue as to the provenance of the Scary Box but you could find out more from the silver coloured crest above the motto and it probably dates from t...

The Escorts & The Celebrity Musician
2007-09-15 16:07:00
Since her post on the risks of seeing an escort the English Courtesan has had a lot of emails. Today's post, by way of a variation on the theme, is on the risks of brothels in Europe. The tale once again comes from the good old British tabloids, in this case the Daily Mail and German newspaper Bild... In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a photographer snapped Sting leaving a Hamburg brothel called Relax. That's it. No, really, that's the story. The English Courtesan hates to disappoint the readers but there really isn't any more for the tabloids to tell. No stripper or escort girl from Relax has come forward. There are no salacious kiss and tell type details. There have been no public tantrums from Sting's wife Trudie Styler. The story really is that Sting was seen outside a brothel. Not for nothing is August/September known as the newspaper 'silly season' in the UK... ;-)Despite the dubious newsworthiness of the story, the English Courtesan can't help feeling rather so...

An Escort Or Courtesan's Bag Of Tricks
2007-09-12 16:26:00
Today?s post is the latest in the English Courtesan?s series on how to be an escort or courtesan. Have any of you gentlemen wondered what's in a lady?s handbag? Well wonder on! The English Courtesan has no intention of divulging the secrets of her sex, but she might just let you have a little peek in her bag of tricks?read on?The photo incidentally shows the gorgeous Passion handbag by Nuria Gambau. Sadly Nuria London is no longer training, so you'll find it hard to come by one of these, but it's just so lovely that the English Courtesan wanted to share it with the readers. It has to be said that it would make a most unsuitable bag of tricks for an escort or courtesan, as it's rather too obvious, but the English Courtesan hopes you'll agree that it would make a wonderful boudoir bag for one's bedside... :-)The English Courtesan gets a lot of emails asking what a courtesan or escort needs to buy to get started and also what a courtesan or escort should take with them when they ...

The Courtesan & The Consul
2007-09-08 18:49:00
The English Courtesan was highly amused by a press cutting which was given to her this week by the charming T.R. The readers might like to know that T.R. is a reformed Londoner, now resident in Yorkshire, who has a taste for fine cheeses and courtesans...The article that T.R. gave the English Courtesan was about an 18th century Venetian courtesan who had recently come home to roost in Yorkshire... The Venetian Courtesan, depicted in the photo which the English Courtesan purloined from the Kiplin Hall website, was painted by an artist from the circle of Bartolommeo Nazzari (1699 ? 1758). She has just been restored to her former glory and is now back at Kiplin Hall, near Richmond in North Yorkshire, where she belongs. The reason why this tale tickled the English Courtesan's fancy however was not just the Yorkshire or courtesan connection, but rather a little idle speculation regarding the painting's possible saucy history...The Venetian Courtesan was originally bought by Christopher...

The Escorts & The Footballers
2007-09-05 00:55:00
Further to the English Courtesan's post on the potential risks of seeing an escort, the News Of The World has kindly offered up a choice example of a kiss and tell story. This one involves 5 escort girls from the Yorkshire agency McKenzies, 3 Manchester United football players, some girl on girl action, a steamy swimming pool scene, a slippery shower scene, and a generously proportioned driver...whoops!You might like to start by reading the full story and watching the escort video clips here on the News of the World, from which the English Courtesan purloined the photo of the girls in question. For those of the readers who understand Italian, there's a highly amusing variation on the Manchester United escort theme in Italian here. Two of the five footballers' call girls are still working for McKenzies in Leeds, but they're not those depicted in the photo. So presumably the agency sacked the two News of the World kiss and tell escorts, Tyese and Gemma, but haven't spotted Julia ...

Social Escort Myths & A Request...
2007-09-01 15:26:00
The photo shows a nice sunny cloud in Yorkshire. It's captioned 'Cloud Cuckoo Land'. In case you wondered, that's a reference to the place where social escorts and international VIP elite luxury professional prestige courtesans go when they're on their break. Which is actually most of the time...read on... ;-) First things first and the English Courtesan would like to request the readers' assistance. She recently had a lovely email from a young man called Chris. Chris is 22 and is thinking of getting into escorting. He is a student and needs the money but he also has a lot of relevant skills and attributes, in terms of charm, good manners, looks, education and resilience.Chris would prefer to be a social escort but he's realistic that there isn't much demand for those. He's also very bright and he suspects that there may be no such thing as a social escort. As the readers will know from previous posts, the English Courtesan sees social escorting as one of the industry's bi...

The BareAll Sex Survey
2007-08-29 16:07:00
As the readers will recall from the post on Sex and The Psyche, the English Courtesan loves a good sex survey and the latest British yoof sex survey, aptly named the BareAll survey, makes for hilarious and at times rather worrying reading...The BareAll survey, an online poll conducted jointly by Radio 1, 1Xtra, MTV and Durex and supported by the Department of Health, was carried out in Summer 2006 and garnered almost 27,000 responses.The lowlights of the great British yoof sex survey were as follows:- 60% of young people aged 22 to 24 had had more than five sexual partners, compared with 23% of 16- to 18-year-olds, suggesting that modern yoof is less frisky than older yoof- 18% said they had slept with 10 partners or more suggesting that modern yoof likes variety- 57% claimed to have had a one-night stand, suggesting that modern yoof can be a bit of a slapper- 70% of Scots have had a one night stand compared with only 56% of East Anglians, suggesting that Scottish modern yoof is eve...

Agency & Independent Escorts
2007-08-25 14:06:00
The picture shows another rather delightful photogravure from Boccaccio?s Decameron by the celebrated 19th century illustrator Louis Chalon. The English Courtesan has a little collection of these beauties and the readers are once again invited to submit their captions in the comments box?It was a comment from the wise and wondrous Ptr Leeds and a link to his interesting post on agency escorts versus independent escorts here that made the English Courtesan wonder about the relative pros and cons of different types of escort. A straw poll of the English Courtesan?s clients seemed to suggest that men who are seeing an escort for the first time tend to choose agency girls, but those who are old hands, ahem, prefer independent escorts. The readers should of course bear in mind that those were answers from clients who had chosen at least one independent so they were exactly a random sample! :-)Today?s post is aimed at helping people decide whether an independent or agency escort would sui...

The USB Bouncer
2007-08-22 00:25:00
As the readers may know, the English Courtesan has a penchant for USB toys of the tasteless variety. She particularly likes to inappropriately adorn her laptop to entertain herself and her fellow passengers on the long train journeys to London from the wilds of Yorkshire. This week's is an absolute stunner in more ways than one...read on...This choice and unusually chaste example of a USB toy would be equally well-suited to gentlemen concerned about The Wife creeping up behind them when they're looking at naked ladies on the 'puter or to corporate slaves plagued by stapler thieves at work. Without further ado then, the English Courtesan is pleased to present the perfect solution to all your home and office marauders...drum roll...thunderous applause...noise of sqwawking vomiting teens outside a nightclub...it's the USB Bouncer!He's not exactly pretty but the USB Bouncer's lack of looks are more than made up for by his charming phrasing. Powered by a USB cable to your computer,...
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A lawyer for escorts and courtesans?
2007-08-18 18:52:00
The picture shows a rather delightful photogravure from Boccaccio?s Decameron by the celebrated 19th century illustrator Louis Chalon. The English Courtesan knows her readers like a good bibliophile quiz and so she hereby invites them to supply the title of the picture, or failing that, to invent and submit their own captions in the comments box?Further to the debate on the issue of anonymity when seeing an independent escort, the English Courtesan had a sudden stroke of genius. Do we have a lawyer in the house and would he perchance like to be the eternal favourite of the English Courtesan and her readers?The reason why the English Courtesan is asking is as follows. From the comments on the post about meeting an escort, it seems that the issue of clients giving a real name to an escort is a difficult one. Most independent escorts require a real name in order to do security checks and most clients are worried about giving their real name out to an escort they haven?t met. It was Ale...

The Vending Machine at the ICA
2007-08-15 17:11:00
The English Courtesan thought she?d share a rather charming idea with the readers this week. The photo shows the Vending Machine, an Ethical Consumer test in an unusual disguise...The Vending Machine is currently in the bar at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, from whose website the English Courtesan purloined the photo. This quirky little challenge to our consumerist habits, which wins the English Courtesan's Best Thing Of The Week Award, was created by the design collective Team.The idea is that you ?pay it forward?: how many sweeties you get depends not on how much money you put in, but upon how much money the previous person put in. So the person who using the Vending Machine after you will be similarly dependent on your good graces - do you choose to spread a little love and shower them with sweeties or do you choose to make a big kid cry by funding just one measly pink one?The English Courtesan was a little disappointed to find that the Vending Machine contained o...
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Advice on meeting an escort
2007-08-11 15:03:00
Today's post is on the topic of how to be the English Courtesan's Cupcake, hence the photo. Have you ever wondered who an escort's favourite clients are and what makes them special? Read on and all will be revealed...The English Courtesan met a new client in Leeds this week. She?s always slightly apprehensive about meeting a new client as most of her clients at this point are regulars. She worries about lots of things ? whether they?ll be kind, whether she?ll meet their expectations, and whether there will be a genuine rapport. A rapport by email is a good start, but there?s always that risk that someone is not what they purport to be?However the English Courtesan?s new client, Michel, turned out to be utterly delightful in every way. He was clever and funny and loved books. When he smiled his whole face lit up and his soft grey hair smelt of European gentleman, that lovely mixture of manly with a hint of floral. As she lay in his arms and smiled up into hazel eyes, the English C...

The Courtesan & The Wife - Part VII
2007-08-08 18:31:00
Those of the readers who missed the previous instalments of The Wife?s Tale might like to catch up by clicking on the ?Courtesans and Wives? link on the right hand menu (under Luscious Labels)...The summary is that the English Courtesan?s lovely client Roger turned out to have a Concealed Wife who couldn?t have children. Roger is a Good Egg but so is his Wife probably and they?re both in something of a pickle, if the readers will excuse the mixed metaphors. It's now a few weeks since the English Courtesan got a call from the Wife and we?ve got as far as Roger calling and the English Courtesan answering?English Courtesan: Of course I?d want to talk to you, Roger!Roger: I hoped you might call?English Courtesan: Oh, Roger, I?m sorry. I just didn?t want to get you into any more bother. Anyway, I imagined she?d confiscated your phone.Roger: You imagined right. I got it back today though.English Courtesan: Oh Roger ? I?m sorry. I should have helped you clear your call log.Roger: Well you...

The Courtesan & The Wife - Part VI
2007-08-04 16:46:00
The photo shows another glimpse of The Road to Roger's, in a mystery location somewhere in or near Yorkshire. The English Courtesan likes this picture because it reminds her of André Gide's 'La Porte étroite' (1909), often translated as 'Strait is the gate', which is another of her favourite books... 'La Porte étroite' is a novel about love and insanity, piety and loss, structure and the soul. It's a book for anyone who has ever walked away from someone they loved because they believed it was the right thing to do...On with the postscript to The Wife's Tale! Last week the English Courtesan got a call from Roger. Readers who missed the previous chapters of The Wife?s Tale might like to catch up on the story by clicking on the ?Courtesans and Wives? tab on the right hand menu. The conversation went like this:Waah oogley-woogley waah ooh! [Livvy?s ringtone]Waah oogley-woogley waah ooh! [The phone skitters across the desk as Livvy peers nervously at it]Waah oogley-woogley waah...

How much does an escort earn?
2007-08-01 17:12:00
The English Courtesan noticed an interesting article in This Is London recently where a journalist met a London escort. The picture shows Sophia and the journalist, John Arlidge, on their dinner date... ?Sophia? was 24, English, well-educated, attractive and well-presented. She worked with two different central London escort agencies as a full-time escort. She said she was earning £4000 a week. That was before agency fees of 30% (probably 20% commission and 10% apartment fees) so in other words this escort took home £2800 a week before tax. That was back in 2003 and it started the English Courtesan thinking about what escort girls earn now...The English Courtesan generally doesn?t like talking about money, as she was brought up to think it was rude. The English Courtesan has never asked anyone how much they earn and nor has she ever volunteered the information about herself. However that doesn't stop people asking her what she earns as an escort on an amusingly frequent basis. Most...

Literary Clues From The English Courtesan...
2007-07-28 15:09:00
It?s tagging season chez the English Courtesan and she was delighted to be tagged by the sleek and sensual Sulpicia in this post here. Today's post is a tag on the most interesting thing the English Courtesan has ever done with a book...read on MacDuffs!For those of you who haven't met Sulpicia, she's a fabulous Canadian confessional writer, with a love of Roland Barthes, 20th century art, clouds and sex, so the English Courtesan very much hopes you'll pop over to meet her.The illustration shows another literary clue, as the previous one here got lost in the shock dénouement of the Wife?s Tale. The English Courtesan once again invites the bibliophile readers to guess the name and publication date of the volume from which the illustration came and the story behind it, which is peculiarly relevant to both the Wife's Tale and of course this tag.This is a tag about ?something interesting you did with books? which reminded the English Courtesan of her first romantic interlude in The...

Blogs that make a difference
2007-07-25 18:18:00
The picture shows another of the English Courtesan?s favourite paintings, John Nash?s Gloucestershire Landscape, which was painted in 1914. The original is in the Ashmolean in Oxford, from whose website the naughty English Courtesan purloined the photo.The English Courtesan loves this painting (and John Nash?s work in general), because it encapsulates the glories of rural England. In this painting she loves the way he captures how the clouds roll in before a sudden summer storm and how the colours of the trees and field suddenly become almost unbearably bright in those few seconds before the heavens open. Is it the fact that it was painted just before the outbreak of World War I that makes this such a spiritual picture, peaceful yet with a hint of poignancy? Whatever the reasons, this picture gives the English Courtesan peace when she doesn?t have time to go for a walk.Which brings us nicely onto today?s topic of blogs that bring you peace or make a difference to you. One blog which...