No more concessions for Boomers
What's the one Big Fact about me that is obvious to all and affects every aspect of my life?It's that I'm old. A senior citizen. An old age pensioner. A Boomer. I was born in 1952 and I'm very nearly...
View ArticleThe Old Passage
Until 1966, when the original Severn Bridge opened, the only way into South Wales by road was via Gloucester - a very long detour if you were starting from the Bristol area. But there was a car ferry,...
View ArticleA tale of six bracelets
Actually, bracelets and bangles. It's my understanding that a bracelet with a gap in it, through which you slide your wrist, is a bangle. But never mind fine distinctions. I'm going to refer to all of...
View ArticleUltrasonic
Continuing the jewellery theme, I've now acquired an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner. It's large enough to clean several items at once, including such items as metal-framed glasses if the arms are folded....
View ArticleThe Moons of Destiny
And now the birthday present reveal!If you ploughed through my recent post A tale of six bracelets you'll know that for my 71st birthday I decided to have yet another silver bracelet, but one unlike...
View ArticleHappy coincidences
We have all been told how likely it is, in any reasonably large gathering of people, for there to be at least two people who share the same birthday. But in my own life I've never come across anybody...
View ArticleThe British State
My ears pricked up as I heard the 6.00pm BBC news on Radio 4. Rishi Sunak, our prime minister, was making an official government apology to past victims of mistreatment in the armed forces, following a...
View ArticleNo more book festivals
Temperamentally I've never been one for festivals. Certainly not a music festival - I'd hate the crowds, and I'd hate the noise. I dislike joining any small group, even such things as a local group of...
View ArticleThe correct use of knitting needles
Readers will, I'm sure, be pleased to know that The Moons of Destiny passed all tests while I was away on my recent nine-night caravan holiday in Suffolk. In fact such was their influence, I had a...
View ArticleUltra vertigo potential: the Button Boy
It was many years ago now, but I clearly remember seeing a film on TV to do with the historical training of young naval recruits at a Royal Naval College called HMS Ganges. I watched with growing...
View ArticleSlow going, but another landmark passed
With nearly 58,000 shots uploaded, I've just clocked up four million viewings on my Flickr site. Hurrah! But of course, this is four million since I began to upload photos to Flickr in February 2009....
View ArticleMission Impossible: Kettle Quest
How difficult can it be to buy another kitchen kettle, when the old one dies? I hadn't realised the bother it would be.I'd been using a Prestige electric kettle that I originally bought at Sainsbury's...
View ArticleAkenham
Akenham was a small Suffolk village a hundred and fifty years ago, then lying in deep countryside on the north-west side of Ipswich. Now you can barely call it a hamlet. Most of the village has...
View ArticleThe boy who fell
Another church, another grave. This time not an infant. A teenager. Alfred Hickman, the fifteen year old boy trainee at HMS Ganges, the Royal Navy's shore college at Shotley Gate in Suffolk, who fell...
View ArticleJabba the Hutt at Frinton-on-Sea
Over the years I've acquired a definite penchant for English seaside resorts. Some of these are well-known and justifiably celebrated. Others are rather B-list. Others are even worse: dispiriting...
View ArticleMy new global reach puts the world in a spin
The world is now in my grasp, at my very fingertips, and I can even make it spin backwards if I so wish. Am I mad? Or have I acquired superpowers? No, I have bought myself a globe - and not a modern...
View ArticleJulie's House
A postcard of Julie's House at Wrabness in EssexIt's 19th July, and here I am checking out an extraordinary building in the northernmost part of Essex, on rising ground above the River Stour, with a...
View ArticleThe Full English
The last month has been devoid of posts. No, I haven't lost my enthusiasm for blogging. It's simply that I was away for three and a half weeks in Dorset, Cornwall and Devon, and - as usual - took a lot...
View ArticleCar decisions
My faithful and hard-working car, Fiona, made for me to my own chosen specification in 2010, has now covered 194,000 miles. It looks as if she will hit 200,000 miles sometime in February or March next...
View ArticleFarewell to Wilko
Wilko has gone. Its last day of trading anywhere in the country was yesterday. I made a point of driving to Horsham, where one of the remaining shops still open could be visited. Not to buy anything,...
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