Tense moments
I've been trying very hard not to write posts on what I think are misuses of English. But I've just listened to something that has pushed me over the edge. Let me rant. The perpetrator is a schoolgirl,...
View ArticleWhat older women get up to
I was going to make a serious beginning on some posts about my recent holiday experiences - the main ones, that I shall illustrate with photos. But it's getting late in the evening, so I'll content...
View ArticleMy beautiful wheelbarrow
Just over a month ago I bought myself a proper wheelbarrow. I anticipated moving a lot of earth and clipped vegetation from one side of my garden to the other before the autumn was over, and a...
View ArticleGender politics: it's all got horribly complicated
One of my women friends recently remarked how she was disturbed about children as young as three - essentially pre-school - being taken seriously when they expressed denial of their birth-gender...
View ArticleLeicester and Richard III
One of the first things I did when I reached the East Midlands - on my way to Norfolk - was to enjoy a day out in Leicester, by train from Stamford. Leicester is a middling-large city in the middle of...
View ArticleA happy outcome
A few determined readers may have ploughed through my long post about my Civil Service Pension woes (The simplest thing, but..., posted on 13 June). I now have a result, and it is positive. In fact it...
View ArticleFalling apples
Up the A1 from Stamford is Colsterworth, a village that contains Woolsthorpe Manor, a National Trust property. The special thing about this place is that it's where the world-famous mathematician and...
View ArticleThe holiest place in all England 1
While in Norfolk I decided to visit Wells-next-the-Sea on the north coast, approaching it from the south, via Fakenham. Between the two, in the valley of the River Stiffkey or at least in the immediate...
View ArticleThe holiest place in all England 2
So on I drove to Little Walsingham, which I found to be a most attractive village. Any tourist with a camera who wanted picturesque shots of a Traditional English Village would find what he or she...
View ArticleThe holiest place in all England 3
This write-up of my visit to Little Walsingham in Norfolk is becoming an exhausting marathon! One final spurt then, and then wrap it up. The trouble is, there was so much to see there that was worth...
View ArticleA Right Royal Railway Station - and the possible fate of Lord Lucan
While in Norfolk, I was pitched very near Sandringham House, one of the Queen's two country residences, the other being Balmoral Castle up in Scotland. In fact the Caravan Club site was actually on...
View ArticleHunstanton - red cliffs and legs eleven
Hunstanton - correctly pronounced 'Hunston', although I heard nobody saying that - has a unique distinction: it's the only seaside town in Norfolk that faces west. It's therefore the only place in the...
View ArticleTaken for a ride at Wells-next-the-Sea
Wells-next-the-Sea is a town and small port on the north coast of Norfolk. The only port of any size at all for many miles east or west along this windswept and dangerous coastline. And yet, at low...
View ArticleI have killed people
I have been instrumental in the deaths of two persons, directly in one case, indirectly in the other. But this isn't a confession, and the police have never had reason to pursue me. Both deaths were in...
View ArticleLunch at The Randolph
Towards the end of my recent holiday I had a day out in Oxford. With a birthday lunch at The Randolph Hotel, now officially the Macdonald Randolph Hotel. This hotel was Inspector Morse's favourite...
View ArticleNot upgrading
The two-year contract on my Samsung Galaxy S5 mobile phone - named Demelza - was nearly up: just nine days left. I'd been resisting any urge to upgrade to a new phone. But now I had to do something...
View ArticleWill ye no come back again?
Oh, for goodness sake. A letter from Benenden. From their 'Member Loyalty Manager'. Readers must remember my posts about leaving them early this year, and the subscription chaos that ensued. That's all...
View ArticleThe Laughing Sailor
How frightening many 'children's amusements' used to be! This post is - digressions apart - about one kind of jolly amusement that I'd forgotten, but recalled with some personal discomfort recently....
View ArticleNot to be seen again for generations
Anyone still working their socks off in an office might wistfully study the above picture. They may never get the chance to attend something like this. They may never find themselves sitting around...
View ArticleBarriers to knowledge
On the whole I don't feel especially well-informed. Oh, I have a head stuffed full of general knowledge, with a breadth to it that would astound anyone of a hundred years ago. But that's not saying...
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