Going Postal
The Parting Glass
This piece is shared with you all on behalf of our good friend Moscowflyer. She asks us to mark a year since this world said fare-thee-well to a very special lady, and a much-loved Puffin, [more…]
Going Postal
Arts
The Marisco Tavern
One or two Puffins may well be of a vintage where the adage “you’ll never forget where you were when it was announced that JF Kennedy was shot” rings true. SWMBO and I are fortunate [more…]
Going Postal
Requiem for a Puffin
I never knowingly crossed comments with Roger Ackroyd and Old Trout was just before my time, or others that have died in between for that matter; but Roger’s death has got my creative juices flowing. [more…]
20th Century
Meeting The Queen
I have a little anecdote on meeting The Queen. My late father was born in Lewisham, London and was brought up by working class parents in a council estate. After he got demobbed from the [more…]
Arts
THE FINAL HONK
Yesterday, I spent some time with the dead. I hadn’t intended to visit the natural burial ground set just below the Jack and Jill Windmills on the South Downs but the weather was good and [more…]
Arts
A Life in Three Honks, Honk the Second
At the end of part 1 we left our intrepid teenager entering the portals of the famous Foyles Bookshop in the Charing Cross Road, London. Founded in 1903 initially selling secondhand books from a small [more…]
Arts
The Making of Question Time Review
In the un-read comments beneath Going-Postal’s weekly unread Question Time Review, Puffin’s ask how is it done? Or rather, why is it done? Even, why bother doing it? No matter. Perhaps answering the first unread [more…]
Arts
A Life in Three Honks, Honk the First
Being born in Birmingham in 1947 I was lucky enough to have ridden on the trams along Oulton Boulevard before they were scrapped in the early 50’s and regularly traveled into central Birmingham on the [more…]
Arts
Playing in the Band (For Fun) – Epilogue
As my pair of articles about playing in bands accumulated a decent number of votes in the GP Autumn Competition, and there were some interesting reactions at the time of publication, I’ve written one more, [more…]