The London Lounge

Do watch this BBC programme if you can. Wonderful, charming, eccentric, English, but increasingly sickeningly vulgar Mayfair. Sad also, the terrible struggle for small independent retailers and artisans to hold their ground against the faceless, tasteless, international purveyors of grotesque bling...

lxlloyd wrote: In terms of commuting problems atlantic sailor brought up ;

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Thank you for your feedback. I have been watching this thread for the past few years and would still like to embrace bicycle commuting.

Interesting to contemplate why they generally did not feel the need...it isn't like tattoos didn't exist in their time. Perhaps they just considered them part of primitive culture that they had moved beyond by The Enlightenment and beyond. I think they just missed the cresting of the fad. If you ru...

So, I took delivery of my stationery from Piccolo Press today. The customer service was top notch and the final product is outstanding. It was also nice to deal with an retired RN commander who seems to like his new second career so much. Here is a close up of the engraving (it is the USN officer cr...

Well after trying out a range of products from some of the recommend stationers, I've decided to cast my lot in with Piccolo Press of Scotland. I'll let you know more when the final product arrives.

I am very interested in cycling to work and have looked at it seriously several times, in different locales. The problems which one can't readily surmount are: 1.) The elegant bikes that will protect your clothes are mostly high-end Dutch city bikes. Unfortunately, they are terrible on hills. The on...

Do smoking members keep their cigar bands on or take them off? Which practice do members believe is smarter - or does it really matter at all? I believe you'll find that, very much like Marcelo speculated, the bands were designed to keep the smoker's hand from being stained by nicotine. Specificall...

Gentlemen,

Can any of you recommend a good stationer from which to procure engraved stationery? I've looked at Dempsey & Carroll, Smythson and Piccolo Press but have minimal experience with their personalized products. Where do you buy your personalized flat cards and letter writing supplies?

If any here are interested in fountain pens,try www.fountainpennetwork.com Sir, a couple of years ago, I too would have wholeheartedly recommended that website as well. These days though, I find that it has degraded into a forum for the airing of the most ungentlemanly topics: disparaging of manufa...

When the occasional need for a pencil arises, I'm partial to my old Yard-o-Led rolled gold diplomat pencil. It takes leads that are a little too thick for extended mathematical work, but are just right for the quick sketch or short note.

The uniforms in the movies were not the full white dress or tux, but what I had mentioned above in the first two lines. Were the cuff links added for the movies, or do officers really wear cuff links to work? As a former USN naval officer, I have the (relatively) current answer on that question. At...