Here, for the fifth month in a row, is a screenshot taken from the BBC website showing the top seven teams in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The previous four screenshots all showed the team that I have followed since childhood, Leeds United, at the top of the table. As this image… Continue reading More twists and turns
Yesterday, 10 April, was the 22nd anniversary of my mother’s death. I wrote this piece in 2016 about how we usually commemorate the anniversary (“a mass for her intention and a day spent doing very little”) and this follow-up in 2017. Last year I did not write about the anniversary itself, but wrote this piece… Continue reading Two More Anniversary Days
If you learn to play guitar or piano you will probably end up with a repertoire, a set of songs that you can play for your own amusement, or to entertain others. It might consist of just two or three songs but it’s still a repertoire. If you can only play one song, then you… Continue reading Word of the week: repertoire
Today, for the first time since 1975, I watched the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race from the bandstands by Dukes Meadows. I have seen the boats pass by from many different vantage points over the last 43 years, always on the north side of the river, but never from here. Back in 1975 Cambridge (the… Continue reading Boat Race memories
Since late last year I have limited the number of pieces that mention Leeds United, the team that I have followed since childhood, to two or three per month. These pieces have been recording the team’s efforts to return to the top tier of English football for the first time since 2004. Based on how… Continue reading Twists and turns
A couple of months ago, in this piece, I wrote about the sitcom “Friends” and its regular place in our family viewing, even though the last episode of the show aired in 2004. As predicted, the weekday broadcasts on Channel 5 reached the last ever episode (the end of Series 10) before February was out.… Continue reading Word of the week: hibachi
Today is the 23rd day of Lent. We are halfway through. In various pieces over the last three years I have referred to the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, when it occurred: on 14 February last year (the first time since 1945 that it had fallen on Valentine’s Day), on 1 March 2017, and… Continue reading Halfway through Lent, 2019
An entire Saturday and Sunday without witnessing a minute of live sport on TV: this is a rarity for us. From England’s game on Friday night (a 5-0 win at home to the Czech Republic) until the second half of this evening’s 5-1 win in Macedonia, I spent nearly 72 hours without seeing a kick,… Continue reading Two sporting hat-tricks, one good and one bad
At various times in the last six months I have posted weekly updates about the ITV quiz show “Tenable”. For the most recent of these pieces (shows broadcast in the week ending 8 March 2019), please click here. That piece contains links to previous weeks, going back to week ending 1 February 2019. There are… Continue reading Raw “Tenable” data, February-March 2018
Another city, another 50 people murdered by some nutter. This time the city was Christchurch New Zealand, the people who were targeted were Muslim, killed in mosques while praying last Friday (15 March). The person who murdered them will, and should, remain nameless. Back in 2016, soon after a mass shooting in Orlando Florida, I… Continue reading What Jacinda Ardern said
The Compartments 