GaryKolman Kolman's Open Salon Blog

Mutton dressed as lad: made-to-measure shirts

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:11:35 -0500

When was the last time you had something made for you? I don’t mean a latte or a roast chicken, but an object of desire. Like a suit, or a pair of shoes? Or, if you’re seriously minted, a house? Or if you are that way inclined, a gun?

Speaking for myself, it was a few years back, and it was a good old whistle and flute from the home of British bespoke, Savile Row. To be honest, this was my second from the Row — the first had been from Kilgour several years before — but this time round the experience was no less exciting, and no less indulgent. The tailors were Messrs Gieves & Hawkes, outfitters to, among others, Lord Nelson, Ian Fleming, Michael Caine and David Beckham, and the process was like being led through a sweetie shop of sartorial delights. What sort of shape, fabric, lining, buttons, details would sir like? Well, I don’t know ... let’s have a look at them all ...

Second conjoined twin 'waking slowly'

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:11:55 -0500

The second girl who was separated from her conjoined twin during a marathon operation in Melbourne this week is being slowly woken from her induced coma, doctors say

Krishna is in good condition but is expected to take longer to recover than her sister Trishna, who was talking to and cuddling her legal guardian, Moira Kelly, just hours after waking on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital said that Krishna was being woken up slowly.

"She is more alert, starting to breathe more and opening her eyes," the hospital said in a statement.

Giles Coren reviews the New Angel

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:11:06 -0500

Food festivals are not normally my bag. Mostly it’s a load of hectoring vegans waving plates of leaf-mould cheese under your nose, fat thickos struggling to come to terms with the value of their “meal tokens”, and whey-faced liggers determined to get drunk on thimble-sized samples of yak’s piss brandy (“Half the cholesterol, twice the antioxidants! It’s how the Nepalese live to 350!”).

But when my friend Henry Dimbleby, magnificent figurehead of the Leon restaurant chain, suggested we use the annual one in Dartmouth as an excuse for a weekend at his family’s boathouse in Dittisham, just up the river, and several gigantic meals in the general area (of which last week’s Riverford Farm Field Kitchen review was one), I decided, oh, what the hell.

Basement conversions: are they really worth the hassle?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:11:58 -0500

There can be no home improvement project more controversial right now than a basement extension, scores of which are currently being gouged out beneath homes in prime sections of London and the Home Counties.

Going underground will cost six figures, take about a year, and more than likely strain relationships with the neighbours to breaking point.

It will also add hundreds of square feet to your home and put you in an exclusive club that includes the Conservative leader David Cameron, the hedge-fund millionaire Chris Rokos and the comedian Ricky Gervais.