Back in the 1990s I read many books by Carl Hiaasen, crime novels set in Florida. I enjoyed them enormously, and my recollections of them have merged into an indistinct mix of plotlines, characters and memorable phrases. The memory that comes to mind most often is of a character who always parks in the shade.… Continue reading “Always park in the shade”
We might finally be moving on, saying goodbye to the dance school that my children have attended at various times for the last eight years. Let’s see, is there anything here that could lead you to connect my words to the institution in question? I don’t think so. I have no intention of revealing the… Continue reading “You’ve let yourself down”
My wife and our 10-year-old daughter enjoy eating sushi. There’s a locally-run place nearby, not part of a chain, where they go at least once a month. For various reasons Thursday has become a regular sushi evening for them. I have never joined them, partly because I do not believe that sushi constitutes a proper… Continue reading “It’s not a meal, it’s a snack”
“Is there a point to all this?” This question has not emerged from some deep existential reflection, nor from a review of the pieces posted on this Blog so far. It’s a line from a French movie I saw in the 1980s, which comes to mind every now and then. Back then, without search engines,… Continue reading “Is there a point to all this?”
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation. It commemorates, as you may know, the angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she is “with child”. For many years now we have been able to discuss this event with a memory from my daughter’s first Nativity Play at her primary school. The boy chosen to… Continue reading “Mary! You’re gonna have a baby!”
Maybe I’m getting old. I have taken to repeating some of the phrases that old people have traditionally used about young people, and about how the world has changed, and my use of these phrases is not always for comic effect. “That’s not music, that’s just noise” is probably the closest to home. I first… Continue reading “That’s not music, that’s just noise” (and similar phrases)
This earlier piece, “Never travelling light”, describes how I have always carried too much stuff around with me, in bags and pockets, ever since schooldays. I have lugged things from place to place that were never used, and most of the pockets in my coats and jackets have holes in them. This character trait was… Continue reading “Do you have a nappy I could borrow?”
When my brother got married, in Spain in the 1980s, there were still substantial savings to be made at duty free stores when flying to Europe. A few of us travelled from Gatwick to Alicante and bought two bottles of duty-free Veuve Cliquot champagne in a rather attractive (and heavily discounted) gift set. It was,… Continue reading “When my brother was at Cambridge he drank this [Veuve Cliquot] every day”
It’s a while since I wrote about any of our favourite catchphrases. I recorded many of them in the first few months of this Blog, and created this Category to find them easily. A phrase that my wife and I have used throughout our married life relates to the best hundred pounds (or fifty pounds,… Continue reading “The best hundred pounds I ever spent”
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
The Compartments 