Hobbies
5. Shunting forward
We last left the challenge with the track due to arrive. JandJmodels.co.uk was closed due to lockdown, so having spare time, delivered the track in person. Peco had finally managed to manufacture a new set [more…]
Blog
Engineering
Cars I Have Loved (And Hated)
Over the years, like I suspect most of you, I have owned quite a number of cars. Some I have loved, some I have hated, some I have been indifferent about. Ford Escort Mk 1 [more…]
Authoritarianism
Pretext for Dystopia – You Lucky People, Part One
By titling their recently published World Economic Forum treatise Covid-19: The Great Reset, the evident glee with which the authors – economists Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret – greet the pandemic as a harbinger of [more…]
Arts
Cnuteneering, Part Six
Welcome back to Cnuteneering, where the possible is made more difficult by bone headed ignorance, overenthusiasm and pointy metal things being brought together. You may want to refresh your memory on the project in: Part [more…]
Economics
Some Unseasonal Reflections on Money
Several comments and questions on my last essay deserve a thoughtful response, which is the theme of today’s essay. You may recall its references to today’s dependency culture – the “expectation syndrome” that fuels the [more…]
Arts
The Year Turns, Part 2
Yule I grew up with Yule, even though I never really understood anything about it. It was just another word that was heard around Christmas time. People would wish each other a merry Yuletide, and [more…]
Fiction
War Crimes Chapter 39 – Epilogue Two
Chapter 39 – Epilogue Two Former Detective Inspector Charles Hope became a very successful novelist. He wrote scathingly satirical comedy novels about the police service, which won him few friends among serving officers and the [more…]
Arts
The Curious Tale of Colonel Ellis & the Christmas Oranges
In 1908 Colonel William Verner Ellis (*) had long been retired from the British Indian Army and an adventurous & distinguished career playing “The Great Game”. His restless nature found him one grey winter’s day, [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Seventy Two
Monday Good day to you all, another weekend gone all too quickly. It was very cold this morning and there was even a heavy frost. Talking of that, Frosty was on an early Eurostar to [more…]