History
Mires, moats and manors
How could any true traveller ignore the lure of a name like Thorne Waste? It could be the title of a Brontë novel, or the kind of place the Hound of the Baskervilles was locked [more…]
Blog
Collecting
Going For Gold – Part 6
Previous articles in this series have focused heavily on coins. This time I take a look at the history of bullion, ingots and bars for a change. What is Bullion? Claude de Bullion, became the [more…]
Computing
Welcome to Dingleberry
It isn’t my fault, honest, you may recall a certain nameless puffin of this parish who has a thing for shunting and the associated models who some time ago started to make a small model [more…]
Arts
This and next …..
It was a fine Thursday evening as Mr. and Mrs. RC were out for their daily perambulation as permitted by Reichmarschall des Grossdeutchen Reiches Johnson. They were discussing arrangements of when relatives were to visit. [more…]
Arts
Gardening & Walking In A Pandemic (Panacea For Mind & Body)
A quiet time in the greenhouse just now, the frosts just keep coming and I’m loathe to put the tomatoes, as healthy as they seem to be, in the cold frame just yet. I have [more…]
Biography
The Real Goldfinger?
Whilst doing some research for a future article in the ‘Going for Gold’ series I came across an interesting story which I thought would make for a separate article in its own right. Charles W. [more…]
Fiction
The Dismantlers
He was surprised to have a call from the Surgery to say that his Doctor wanted a word: surprised, because they had been incommunicado since lockdown began, doubly so now, since she had invited him [more…]
Cooking
Knives and keeping them sharp
So.. we’ve discussed my obsession with Japanese knives (see: An introduction to Japanese knives) and there were lots of lovely comments, but one came through most – how to keep a knife sharp! This article [more…]
Economics
Reality check: The “miracle recovery” narrative
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been constantly bombarded by news reports and “expert” analyses celebrating an incredible global economic recovery. They’re not even presented as projections or expectations anymore, but as a fact, as though [more…]