Pakie, Packy or Packie, is a diminutive form of the name Patrick. Patrick, as I’m sure you know, is one of the most popular boys’ names in Ireland, more usually abbreviated to Paddy or Pat. I had two uncles baptised with the name of Patrick. My father’s brother was known as Paddy, and the man… Continue reading Word of the week: Pakie
How much do you remember about your dreams? How many can you recall, right now? During a recent conversation a friend was telling us about a very strange dream that he had had. He could recall it vividly, a few days later. As I listened I couldn’t think of any recent dreams. There are themes… Continue reading The scariest dream I ever had
[Contains swear words] In the late 1980s, for reasons I will not go into right now, I drove with my father to a place near Queens Park, London NW6. I followed what had become a familiar route: up Wood Lane (W12), right at the Pavilion (a pub), past the North Pole (another pub) and on… Continue reading A few of the places where my father worked
Last year, in this piece, I listed all the Double A Sided singles that made it to the top of the UK chart. There were 47 different releases in the list, the last of them in 2007. There are unlikely to be any more now that the singles charts are based primarily on streaming. Double… Continue reading The 4 EPs that made it to #1
Following on from this earlier piece, here are another 10 jokes from Tony Blackburn’s “Sounds of the 60s” show on Radio 2. Most of them come from the few minutes just before 8am on the live broadcasts when he and Dermot O’Leary discuss their week. Tony Joined the origami society; they sent a lovely letter… Continue reading Tony and Dermot, a second selection of jokes
The Guardian newspaper has a Thursday quiz which passes me by most weeks. I usually do Thomas Eaton’s quiz on a Saturday but maybe I should add the Thursday questions to my weekly routine. I got five answers wrong from the 15 that featured on 22 June 2023. Click here if you want to try… Continue reading 5 new facts from a Guardian quiz
The word “nosebleed” has not appeared on this Blog until now. I find the Search option on this site very useful. Sometimes I am about to draft something that has been playing on my mind and find that I have already drafted and posted it, maybe years earlier. But there’s been nothing so far about… Continue reading Nosebleeds
A third reflection on the 10,000 photos that I can access any time In two earlier pieces I have reflected on the 10,000 photos that I can access any time. They are either personal to me or were sent my way, as prints or digitally. I am trying to break this theme into smaller chunks,… Continue reading 10,000 Photos: Part 3, before 1986
Here are the questions and answers from the special edition of “Tenable” broadcast earlier today (Wednesday 7 June 2023), a Soccer Aid special featuring Quick Off the Primark, five teammates who work for Primark. [This looks like it’s the first episode from Series 7.] [Update, 18 October 2023: This is listed as S7Ep23 on my… Continue reading “Tenable” Soccer Aid special, questions and answers: Quick Off the Primark [Wednesday 7 June 2023, repeated Wednesday 18 October 2023 and Tuesday 27 August 2024]
A further reflection on the 10,000 photos that I can access any time In an earlier piece (“10,000 Photos: An Introduction) I began reflecting on the 10,000 photos that I can access any time. They are either personal to me or were sent my way, as prints or digitally. I could have let that earlier… Continue reading 10,000 Photos: thousands of duplicates
The Compartments 