Animals
Zero to Heartbreak in 48 Hours
An ordinary Tuesday, or so it seemed at the start of the day. Mr S had just gone off to the butchers for something nice for dinner when, mid-morning, my phone rang. It was our [more…]
Memoir
Arts
Set in Stone
This tale begins, as so many tales do, on a dismal winter’s day. This particular day, a miserably chilly and grey February one, was a decidedly rubbish day. Not only had Mr S and I [more…]
20th Century
Lake District Memories
On Christmas Morning 2021 I was taken by ambulance to hospital suffering from a clot on the lung brought on by Covid (Covid Pneumonitis). It was to be the beginning of ten days there, most [more…]
Engineering
Imperial Measures
I am one of those fortunate people who understand both metric and imperial measurements. I am old enough to have had my early education purely in imperial but as an apprentice my college courses employed [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Carlisle
When in the vicinity one feels obliged. After all, I am a Carlisle lad. During my previous life more interesting I found myself nearby and could adjust my schedule. If I was shot by an [more…]
20th Century
Memories of My Early Childhood
I was born in 1950 and I have very happy memories of my early years. I was lucky I guess. We lived in a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Church End, Finchley with decent sized front, [more…]
Arts
A Winter’s Tale
We moved, the wife and I, into this house eleven years ago. It is a prosaic little domicile, having been built in 1990, and it is situated equidistant between the railway station, the hospital and [more…]
America
Ships That Pass
Two Rascals I looked down on a thunderstorm. The distant lights of late evening Manhattan were being complimented. Clouds beneath me luminesced with staccato lightning flashes above a rain-lashed Long Island. 1988 had ended badly. [more…]
Biography
A Leicestershire Lad
Watching formal schooling, community spirit and childhood and family life in general being relentlessly trashed in recent years has made me think more and more about my growing-up years in a small Leicestershire village between [more…]