A public disclosure that was never explained
My last post on The Samaritans brought to mind a unique event - the one and only time I've ever heard a record request on a radio show that was made by persons I knew, for someone I knew. It was a very...
View ArticleWhat would I want a man for?
That sounds like a silly or naïve question, doesn't it? But actually, if I amend the title of this post to 'What are older men for, in one's own later life?'. Then the question begins to seem not so...
View ArticleNew wellies
I've been shopping again! Two more big purchases. Both yesterday. This post deals with the cheaper buy, a pair of decent wellies. I am now the proud owner of a pair of wellington boots by Gumleaf, the...
View ArticleNew camera
And now the second of yesterday's purchases. I've bought myself a replacement camera. My trusty Leica D-Lux 4 from June 2009 has now taken about 62,800 photos and has earned an honourable retirement....
View ArticleA testing time
As you might easily guess, I've been devoting a lot of time to my new Panasonic LX100 camera in the last few days. It's vital to find out how it works, and configure it to my own needs. Getting a new...
View ArticleLunch with the Girls
I wouldn't like anyone to think that I've given up on my social life - and blogging - while I play obsessively with my new camera. I admit that I threw many hours at it - too many - but I finally...
View ArticleWomen can be engine drivers too - well, firemen anyway!
It's Bank Holiday Monday today, and (as is traditional in England) it's dull and wet. But instead of whizzing off somewhere in Fiona, and blasting away with the new Panasonic LX100, I can sit down and...
View ArticleZounds!
Don't you sometimes get bored with the same hackneyed swear words? The classic example is the ubiquitous F-word, which has now become just a noise one makes, a kind of dog's bark, almost divorced from...
View ArticleChristian Louboutin shoes
No, I haven't bought any, honest! But I know someone who has, when she was in Paris. And I got to see them the other night. The lucky young woman was Lily, the younger daughter of my French lady friend...
View ArticleA strange humming noise
If you have ever seen the short 1956 comedy film The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn - a big screen vehicle for The Goons, and according to Wikipedia unexpectedly popular at the time (see...
View ArticleTrusted
As everyone knows, I have embarked on a solitary mode of life for my last years. I'll play the end game alone. I do it unencumbered of course - almost no legacy people or issues from earlier times -...
View ArticleDemons
Before I went to the Devil's Punch Bowl (featured in my last post) I visited Waggoners Wells, another beauty spot not far away. This is a deep valley that contains a series of 'hammer ponds', the...
View ArticleMaking a cradle
Not for a baby! For my new camera, an open container to stop it sliding around my handbag, and to protect the camera from most kinds of accidental knock. It had to be lightweight, padded, and fit...
View ArticleSoft focus
This post about about something my new camera can do that has produced an intriguing result. The Panasonic LX100 is a serious camera, intended for experienced photographers, but Panasonic have still...
View ArticleFund raising and global problems
The somewhat ruthless pressure applied to potential donors has been in the UK news for a while now, but continues. There have been reports of older persons made ill, or at least impoverished, by...
View ArticleCry baby
After pilates today it was Maddy's turn to treat the rest of us (Jo, Sue, Valerie and myself) to lunch at her home. And she prepared a delicious meal, washed down - of course - by plenty of white wine...
View ArticleFerring
Above is a sunset at Ferring, an upmarket coastal community to the west of Worthing in West Sussex. I took that picture in January 2003, with my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 990. I'm afraid...
View ArticleWhat clothes to pack?
So what clothes should I pack for my forthcoming West Country holiday? There are two obvious approaches to that question. First, what will the weather be like? It's mid-September. Here in Sussex the...
View ArticleMoscow Drug Club
The forthcoming Appledore Book Festival kicks off with this lively troupe of artistes, which the ABF brochure (see http://www.appledorebookfestival.co.uk/events/) describes in these terms: Friday 25th...
View ArticleI thought you were going to move down here?
That's a question I may well get asked when I reach North Devon. This time last year I was having such a good time there, and felt so at home there, and had garnered such a number of local friends...
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