An alternative title for this piece was “Time Management in 15 Minutes”. That might be true for some of you – maybe you could learn everything you need to know in the next 15 minutes – but for others it will be the starting point. I have read dozens of books and hundreds of articles… Continue reading Time Management: the first 15 Minutes
Homophones: words which sound the same but are spelt differently, like “their” and “there”, and indeed “they’re”. They formed part of my 9-year-old daughter’s homework again at the weekend and we have been discussing them on the way to school. Most commonly there are pairs of homophones, like “pail” and “pale” – the former was… Continue reading Word of the week: homophone
There was a time when people used verbs of speech: talk, speak, say or tell. For people learning to speak English as a second or other language it is often difficult to tell the difference, and to remember that you tell somebody something, but you say something to somebody. I have spent a lot of… Continue reading Verbs of Speech
[There are over 4,000 words here] The call came on Tuesday, early, before the school run, before I wake my son, my uncle died in the night, the uncle I’m named after, he died aged 86, north of Dublin, funeral for Thursday, arrangements by phone and text, later there was a long chat with my… Continue reading A Funeral Day (10 March 2016)
Some things are high maintenance and some things are low maintenance. Maybe this doesn’t bother you. If you have a car that needs constant attention you might be the kind of person who enjoys tinkering with cars, so that’s just fine. I prefer it if things just work and don’t need to be tinkered with.… Continue reading Low Maintenance, High Maintenance: Baby Milk, Beards and Smoking
There are many comedians who appear regularly on my TV set who have never made me laugh, not once. They are, in my view, just not funny. By contrast there are many comedians and presenters who have made me laugh, so in the interests of accentuating the positive, I’ll mention a few of them: Eddie… Continue reading Broccoli, and TV Comedians
Cricket, the sport rather than the insect. It could be considered Universal Knowledge for a billion or more people on the planet. Almost everyone in India or Pakistan, most people in Bangladesh, England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand would have some idea of the game, and many of them… Continue reading How to Celebrate a Hundred
Taramasalata: 12 letters, 6 occurrences of the letter “a”. It’s the kind of thing I had never heard of, let alone eaten, until I went to university. There are members of my family who have still never eaten it, and have never eaten hummus, tahini or tzatziki. There wasn’t much call for any of those… Continue reading My taramasalata moment
Zeugma is a figure of speech where a word (usually a verb) applies to at least two other words in different ways, for example “The barmaid gave me a pint of Guinness and an endearing smile” or “The grumpy barman gave me my change, and a scowl”. In this case we’re using the verb “to… Continue reading Word of the week: zeugma
Some years ago I stood three feet away from Paul Weller at a gig in a fairly small London venue. It was at the Half Moon in Putney in August 2011. Ian McLagan (former keyboard player with Small Faces and The Faces) was playing, solo, and I went on my own. A friend who was… Continue reading Keeping out of sight
The Compartments 