My first encounter with the word “banter” was in this Monty Python sketch, wherein RAF pilots fail to understand each other’s reports of recent flying missions. “Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how’s your father. Hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper’s and… Continue reading Word of the week: banter
The clock is ticking. Change is coming. Something we have enjoyed since the 1970s will no longer be part of our lives. I am referring here (the weekend after we learnt the result of the UK’s EU Referendum) to Paul Gambaccini’s BBC Radio Show, “America’s Greatest Hits”. From July 2016 Paul Gambaccini will host Radio… Continue reading End of an era
There are many books that I have started and not finished, and many books that I have read part of and do not plan to read all the way through. The book that I have tried to read, and failed, more than any other is Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”. Throughout the last 20 years I… Continue reading “Jane Eyre”
My piece earlier this month about Blue Trees was based on ideas that I came across in various training courses more than ten years ago. These ideas were taught with great confidence, and as if they apply universally, but they do not seem to apply to me. Another subject, also taught with confidence, but not… Continue reading Communication and percentages
Today is the day of the EU Referendum. The UK electorate is voting on whether to remain in the EU or to leave. Yesterday evening the group stage of the 2016 European Football Championships (Euro 2016 for short) came to an end. We now know the 16 teams who will play in the knock-out rounds… Continue reading Euro 2016, the EU, and some mnemonics
Earlier this month I took a look at one of our bookcases and realized that there were dozens of books there that I am unlikely to read in the next year or two. I grew up in a house without many books for adults. (I was going to write “adult books”, but that means something… Continue reading Books, shelving and storage
Having grown up in London I am familiar with many of the traditional red bus routes and have seen both the routes and the vehicles change over the years. One evening earlier this week I took a bus that didn’t exist 20 years ago, the number 70, a single-decker which follows a meandering route from… Continue reading A meandering bus route article
A simple dictionary definition of fungible is “replaceable by another identical item; mutually interchangeable”. I find that an example and a comparison is more helpful. Money is fungible. A £20 note can be used to buy anything up to that value. Time is not fungible. The time that you spend commuting to work is not… Continue reading Word of the week: fungible
Can you tell me a joke? Any joke will do, childish or adult, long or short. I have met many people who say that they can’t, they can’t remember a single joke, yet they must have heard hundreds or even thousands of them in their lifetimes. Most of us have. My children (currently aged 9… Continue reading Jokes and lyrics
On our walk along the river last month we stopped for drinks and crisps (or potato chips as the Americans call them) at the Sun Inn by Barnes Pond. While distributing the three packets of crisps between the four of us I asked the following trivial question, which had never crossed my mind before: “If… Continue reading One flavour of crisps
The Compartments 