“When I woke up the next day I was a different guy”. For me that is the most memorable sentence from Keith Richards’s “Life”. It describes the effect on him of hearing Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” on Radio Luxembourg one night. As it says on page 58 of my hardback edition: “That was the stunner.… Continue reading “When I woke up the next day I was a different guy”
Some time ago we tried to explain to our children the derivation of the phrase “This is where we came in”. As I understand it this comes from how people used to go to the cinema before my lifetime, when they didn’t pay too much attention to start and end times. They would buy their… Continue reading “This is where we came in”
This has been a family catchphrase since the 1980s. It is, of course, factually incorrect. You do not drive better when you have had a few drinks. The driving instructor who taught my brother to drive in the late 1970s was unavailable to teach me to drive in the mid-1980s. He had lost his licence… Continue reading “I drive better when I’ve had a few drinks”
The other day (“Big Birthdays”) I wrote about having a superstitious reluctance to think too hard about the future, or indeed write about it. I plan ahead to a certain extent, though not as much as many other people. We had a party yesterday for my wife’s Big Birthday and there was some uncertainty about… Continue reading “What would you have done if it had rained?”
Some years ago a favourite cousin told us a story about a man in a village in Ireland – someone who was “not quite the full shilling” – whose family had some visitors from Germany in the 1950s. Struggling for something to say to these German visitors, he asked, “So … whatever happened to that… Continue reading “Whatever happened to that nice Mr Hitler?”
“Wait till the hurry goes off you”. It’s an Irish expression, one that my mother used to use, for people who are unable to relax, for people who are in a hurry to be somewhere else or to do something else. Wait, till the hurry goes off you. There are probably plenty of things that… Continue reading “Wait till the hurry goes off you”
Suspension of disbelief is a crucial part of reading fiction and watching movies. You can refuse to believe everything that is portrayed in any work of fiction because it is all, literally, made up. But we suspend disbelief. We get into the story and read on, as if it really happened, or could have happened.… Continue reading “A real Terminator wouldn’t do that”
Back in December I wrote that “What a coincidence” is one of our catchphrases, and why, and in January (“Porlock”) wrote that themes, stories or references will recur if you keep your eyes and ears open, and keep on reading, and watching, and listening. They’re not really coincidences. You won’t know what they are in… Continue reading February’s “Coincidence Corner”
Most summers our children eat a lot of ice cream. It should probably be regarded as an occasional treat but for years it was a regular, unquestioned, daily part of our holidays. Two summers ago we decided to change this, or at least change our approach to buying it. We were on holiday in Wexford,… Continue reading “Would you like an ice cream?”
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The Compartments 