Welcome to The Compartments, a regularly updated Blog from West London. There is something here for you if: You are over ten years old; You are able to read articles of 500 words or more; You have access to the web. Even if you are under 11 there is probably something for you here, on… Continue reading Welcome. There is something here for you
I have posted many items on this Blog about the fortunes of Leeds United, the team that I have followed since childhood. There was usually at least one post per month in the club’s last two seasons in the Championship, before being promoted to “The Promised Land” of Premier League football. I have posted less… Continue reading When your fate is in your own hands
I return to the subject of crosswords and find that everything that I wrote in this piece, back in 2020, still applies. As it says, “I learnt how to do cryptic crosswords at my father’s knee, as it were”, but rarely look at them these days. My father continued to get a daily paper until… Continue reading My father’s way of doing crosswords
A short piece about a short phrase: “my bad”. I don’t hate it, and I don’t use it. It came up in conversation recently when 14 of us had gathered for a meal on my wife’s birthday. One of the other mums said that she had only just come across the phrase and thought it… Continue reading “My Bad”
Another reflection on computer hardware and software stretching back 35 years. Most of it is still in my possession. This follows on from My Computer Museum, Part 1: The Amstrad PC1640. The Amstrad PC1640 that I bought in 1988, along with loan PCs from various places where I worked, was good enough for my needs… Continue reading My Computer Museum, Part 2: a 486
There are dozens of posts on this Blog that mention the music quiz Pop Master. Until March 2023 it was on Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show at 10.30am every weekday morning. Ken moved to Greatest Hits Radio last month, and Pop Master went with him. My most recent piece with “Pop Master” in the… Continue reading Pop Master: 20 more minutes in my day
The school year here in the UK runs from 1 September to 31 August. If you have a child born on the first of these dates they will be the oldest in their class. Any child born on the last of these dates will be the youngest in their class. There might still be some… Continue reading Daily reminders of being 15, 16, 17, 18
There have been 207 “Word of the week” pieces on this Blog so far. From 1 February 2016, when I decided to post them exclusively on Mondays, there was an unbroken run of 24 weeks each featuring a word that was either in the news or relevant to what I was doing or reading at… Continue reading Word of the week: allotment
This Blog was created in December 2015, over seven years ago. Since then, every day of the year, from New Year’s Day to the Feast of St Sylvester, has been represented by at least one piece, in at least one of those seven years. Some seasonal themes have been covered that do not need to… Continue reading Lent 2023 summarized
I do not read as much as I would like to, and I see far fewer movies than I used to. As noted before on these pages, many times, I try to keep up-to-date with two sets of award-winners from the worlds of books and movies: Booker Prizes and Academy Awards (or Oscars). I regard… Continue reading … and up-to-date with Booker winners again
A reflection on computer hardware and software stretching back 35 years. Most of it is still in my possession. I bought my first PC (“personal computer”) in 1988, over 35 years ago. It was an Amstrad PC1640, the first IBM compatible PC for sale here in the UK for under £1,000. (It was not the… Continue reading My Computer Museum, Part 1: The Amstrad PC1640
The Compartments 