Greetings to anyone reading these words thousands of miles from West London, where they have been drafted. Over the last few days this Blog has had 23 Page Views in the Falkland Islands. I have no information about the people (or maybe it’s just one person) reading these pages, just the fact there have been… Continue reading Greetings to readers in Nepal, Palau, the Falkland Islands and other distant places
When I was born, back in the 1960s, there was only one World Cup: the men’s football (or soccer) tournament, first held in 1930 and held every four years, without a break, since 1950. The first one I remember was in 1970, hosted by Mexico and won by Brazil. In 1975 a new World Cup… Continue reading So many World Cups, and the longest World Cup of all
I have a touch of writer’s cramp. I have just typed that sentence, and am typing this one too, because the Speech Recognition feature of Windows 10 has interpreted the phrase “I have writer’s cramp” in the following ways: I have written square Only when writer’s cramp I can wreck it’s a I her writings… Continue reading Writer’s Cramp, and more about Voice Recognition
What are your strengths? What are you good at? What do your friends, family, and others around you, regard as your strengths? In my case, friends and family have often made reference to my memory. I’m not sure that they all regard it as a strength, but it’s certainly something that gets mentioned. On numerous… Continue reading No good at medical chat
In the first decade of this century I met many people who would say, of themselves, “I’m a very spiritual person”. They would emphasize the word “spiritual”. Often I would ask such people if they practised any specific religion but the answer was always no. They didn’t need to. They were very spiritual, you know.… Continue reading Word of the week: spiritual
Here’s something I’ve noticed over the last 10 years at swimming pools here in West London. The older a man is, the skimpier his swimwear. The size of a man’s swimming trunks (for want of a better description) is inversely proportional to the age of the man. I noticed it when I was a member of a… Continue reading Inversely Proportional: male swimwear and the age of the swimmer
Most people of my age and background will recognize the word Telecaster as a guitar model, a solid-body electric guitar made by US manufacturer Fender. People with an interest in the mechanics of electric guitars will know many of the things that I have just learnt from reading this Wikipedia page, although I already knew… Continue reading Word of the week: Telecaster
Last year I wrote a couple of pieces about trophy-winning football teams and the colours they play in. The first piece was posted towards the end of the domestic season here in England, and the second was just after the finals of the European competitions. There were two main observations. First, teams in blue were… Continue reading Blue is the colour, again, and Red trumps White
Today, 40 days after Easter Sunday, is the Feast of the Ascension. For the first time in over a decade the Catholic Church here in the UK is celebrating the Feast on the day itself, Thursday. In recent years the Ascension has been celebrated the following weekend, on the 7th Sunday of Easter. Some years,… Continue reading Easter Dividends
For several months during this football season I have been reflecting regularly on the progress of Leeds United FC, the team that I have supported since childhood. The most recent of these pieces is here, and it contains links to every other Leeds-related post since December 2018. Today, Bank Holiday Monday, was the final day… Continue reading Word of the week: play-offs
The Compartments 