Known for muck and brass, the grim north of England was formerly a hotbed of the Industrial Revolution, rich in sweat, resources, enterprise and plutocrats. Nowadays synonymous with grim decline, my wife and I have [more…]
For generations, the phrase “grim up north” has lingered in the national imagination — conjuring images of soot-stained skylines, struggling towns, and industries long past their prime. It is a shorthand that flattens the region [more…]
After several requests from fellow Puffins, I finally got off my arse to rummage around in the attic and miraculously unearthed a bunch of diaries from over fifty years ago, and most importantly the one [more…]
Devastation struck Puffindom earlier in the year when readers heard of Mrs AWS’s Christmas present falling flat. Her once-in-a-lifetime diverted train trip from Carlisle to Preston via the scenic Settle-Carlisle railway suffered a last second [more…]
I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while, but real life keeps interrupting. One’s pen’s been distracted by a diminishing Navy, war in the Gulf, Question Times, Holy Week and even the installation [more…]
Mr A and I had been to Rome to watch the 6 nations match, England versus Italy, 2 years before and enjoyed it so much we wanted to go again. Last time we visited all [more…]
Friday 2nd January – at sea (mostly) The sea seems to have calmed down overnight. It is still rather windy, but the sea state has changed to moderate, with a long, slow swell, and it [more…]
Monday 29th December, Lanzarote I woke up about 05:30 and we were moving very slowly off the coast of Lanzarote. It is still dark and the lights along the coast were twinkling. Much too early [more…]
It’s Wednesday morning around 9:00 and I’m at Carlisle station. AWS didn’t manage to make his proposed rail journey down to Preston because of cancellations. Hongkonger has done rather better. The train at platform 3 [more…]
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