Windows 10 is taking up more of my time, at home and at work, than when I wrote about it in this piece. Microsoft tell us that this is the last-numbered version of the operating system. There will be no Windows 11. The word that I use most often to describe this new version is… Continue reading Word of the week: busy
Occasionally you think of something that you could have said, or should have said, or wish you had said, just a few seconds too late. I have had an example of this in my head for over 30 years now. It was at the start of my second year at university and followed on from… Continue reading Things you wish you’d said
In many day-to-day ways my instincts are to do things the way we used to, either in the “pre-digital age” (and I appreciate that typing that phrase makes me sound like a dinosaur), or in ways that have been superseded by newer technologies. I spent decades using landlines before acquiring a mobile phone, so my… Continue reading Still adjusting to the modern world
Our friends from Worthing came up for the day today. As usual, for a Saturday, we had “Pick of the Pops” playing live on the radio (1-3pm, BBC Radio 2). I have noted elsewhere that I can usually work out what was #1 before the chart rundown at the end of each hour. The second… Continue reading UK #1 hit singles containing girls’ names
Many years ago Woody Allen made a comment about how American teenagers spend all their time with their headphones on, and their lives would be complete if they could grow a third ear to allow them to speak to their friends on the phone at the same time. This was back in the 1980s or… Continue reading A third eye or a third ear
On our way back to London yesterday from our holiday in South Devon we planned to make two stops, Exeter and Stonehenge. The latter didn’t work as planned but we stopped in Exeter for lunch, at a pub within sight of the cathedral. None of us had been to the city before. Every visit to… Continue reading Holiday notes: Exeter and Stonehenge
While we’re on holiday in Devon during this first week of the Rio Olympics, here’s another Olympic memory from “1000 Memories”, available as a Kindle book here (UK) or here (US). Massacre I walked down to the end of North Great George’s Street with Aunt Margaret. She was going to have a drink in the… Continue reading Olympic Memories: Munich 1972
Beer, I have learnt this week, is a town in Devon. It was the starting-point earlier today for a coastal walk, which involved cliffs, steep hills and fields. We had to enter some of these fields through those wooden gates that you have to climb over, stiles as they’re called. Before today none of the… Continue reading Holiday notes: Beer
While we’re on holiday in Devon during this first week of the Rio Olympics, here’s an Olympic memory from “1000 Memories”, available as a Kindle book here (UK) or here (US). Mexico 1968 I thought that he was dying. I thought that the man on the television was dying. He had collapsed beside the running… Continue reading Olympic Memories: Mexico 1968
As someone who still uses cash for many purchases I always have change in my pockets. I stopped carrying a wallet some years ago and use the following method to organize notes and coins in the back pockets of my jeans. Larger notes (£10 and £20) go in the left pocket, along with coins that… Continue reading 2 2’s and a 1
The Compartments 