Drinking
Cruising to the Canaries – Part Two
Day 5 – Wednesday, Funchal, Madeira I awoke just after six; it was still dark, so turned over and went back to sleep for another forty minutes. This time it was grey and grotty, and [more…]
Hobbies
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Two Hundred And Eighty-Seven
Monday Good morning all, the cat is back! I have had a lovely couple of weeks off and the weather has been pretty good. I have spent lots of time out on my favourite windowsill [more…]
Hobbies
Playing With Electricity – Part 4
Damn You Morus Nigra! ‘John Swerved as Mary, Queen of Scots, was busy with her throne but it wouldn’t flush so her face turned to stone when Jane put her hand on John’s gear stick [more…]
Diary
A (Burts’ Eye)View From The Greenhouse; What’s Anglo-futurism, When It’s All At Home?
It’s an easy mistake to make, Burt and I (although, TBF, Burt’s a few inches taller than I am) are easily confused when viewed from the rear, bending down (as it were). Any road up, [more…]
Arts
Digitising Old Cine Films
Having modernised and saved the old family photos and audio recordings for ‘posterity’ by converting them to digital format, attention turned to the family cine films, shot in the 1960s and early 1970s: 24 reels [more…]
Drinking
Cruising to the Canaries – Part One
Day One – Saturday As I have made the Baltic level of the P&O Peninsula Club, I have a few perks on this holiday, one of which is an early boarding time. Today I am [more…]
19th Century
Sir Joseph Whitworth and the Confederate Sniper
Introduction In March 2024 I purchased a first generation, Birmingham-made Parker-Hale replica of a Whitworth military pattern muzzle-loading rifle of the late 1850s. These iconic rifles gained legendary status following their use in the American [more…]
Cycling
West Country Rides, Four
It takes a week to cycle from Penzance to Berwick. It took me 40 years. Because on the way, I wanted to include every town in England, in what amounted to some two years of [more…]
Hobbies
Playing With Electricity – Part 3
“Your nose will grow…” I’m sure that we can all recall some of these admonitions from our youth: “Keep looking like that and your face will stick!” – Why? To what? Surely that isn’t in [more…]