Monday March 8, 2021

In the mid nineties the Spice Girls ruled the charts and business was coming to terms with a new opportunity called the internet. There were stumbles on the road. Pen Island should have thought it through before they simply stuck dot com on the end of their name. In the mid-noughties social media changed the […]

Saturday January 30, 2021

The Middle Ages was a quiet time for my Italian ancestors, aside from famine, pestilence and war. The Roman Empire was a distant memory and it would be ages before Hollywood offered us parts as Mafia gangsters. So, Italians turned to creating great art. Here in England our ancestors turned to creating strange laws. Some […]

Tuesday September 1, 2020

The law of unforeseen consequences has been hard at work during the Covid-19 crisis with locked-down people discovering talents they never imagined they possessed. Plaster and some building materials are in short supply due to a rush of DIY activity, some unlikely social media stars have emerged and enough banana bread has been made to […]

Saturday August 15, 2020

At an early age Damiano Rea realised he had won the lottery of life. Born of Italian heritage to hard working owners of an Italian Restaurant and living in Heaton, an area where he still lives and works. The restaurant was to figure large in Damiano’s early life. At age seven he was decked out […]

Monday June 1, 2020

The past few months have been about trying to find little rays of sunshine amid the doom and chaos. Captain (now Sir) Tom Moore raising £32m by walking his garden. More time with the family. My brother Zeno and his astonishing artisan bread making skills. The fact that I am of Italian heritage. Yes, I […]