Biography
Sailing my life away, part 30
I was delighted so many readers have enjoyed my recent accounts of sailing in the north of Scotland and thank DJM for writing – “A life well lived”. I couldn’t ask for a better epitaph [more…]
Travel
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Fourteen
On last week’s Mystery Album we surmised our mystery posh mystery family of travelling photographers de-shipped at the dockside in Stockholm sometime after 1925. For those wondering (Postcard from Lille style), are we there yet? [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Sunny Skeg
The announcement over the two-carriage rattle-trap train’s tannoy told us this we’d reached the terminus and bid us ‘Welcome to sunny Skegness’. Bearing in mind this was December on the East Coast, these wry words [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Thirteen
In the previous episode of Mystery Album, we visited Gotland, gateway to the Baltic and Sweden’s largest island, which lies 100 miles south of Stockholm and 225 miles northeast of Malmo. The above near century-old [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Twelve
Last time on Mystery Album, we enjoyed the briefest of ports of call in Copenhagen. As we turn another century-old Photex Expandable Album page we find ourselves re-visiting the world of steel wheel, steel rail [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Summer 1954, Part Six – Rhyl
In 1954, the Manchester Evening News launched a “Special Investigation” and tasked my uncle, John Alldridge, with answering the question – Holidaymakers, do you get value for your MONEY? What follows is his report on [more…]
Arts
Mum’s Eightieth Birthday
Some three months before Mum’s 80th my brother, Barry, and I got together to work out what we could organise for her. We came up with a number of ideas, amongst them were a party [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Eleven
As we turn another page of our Mystery Album, it is not too difficult to identify the next sepia print. Any Puffin who has ever strolled along Federiksgade in the direction of Rosenborg Slot, perhaps [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Summer 1954, Part Five – Llandudno
In 1954, the Manchester Evening News launched a “Special Investigation” and tasked my uncle, John Alldridge, with answering the question – Holidaymakers, do you get value for your MONEY? What follows is his report on [more…]