Here’s a picture of Connector, a childhood toy that we were given back in the 1960s. As I recall, it was a joint present for my brother and me. Our birthdays are two days apart, so bigger gifts like this were usually given jointly rather than to one or other of us. As the box… Continue reading Word of the week: Connector
Merry Christmas to you. For the first time since this Blog was set up, over four years ago, I am drafting words on a Christmas morning. The children (aged 13 and 15) have opened all their presents. BBC adaptations of Julia Donaldson books have been playing in the background (“Stick Man”, followed by “Zog”) and… Continue reading Christmas Day, the new New Year’s Eve
Every now and then on this Blog I reflect on subscriptions, most recently in this piece about Netflix (June 2019). As predicted, at the end of our free trial month we continued to subscribe to the service, and still do. Unlike some of the services that I have subscribed to, for month after month without… Continue reading Word of the week: Prime
We are half-way through the latest series of “Strictly Come Dancing”. As noted before on this Blog, this BBC1 show is the most-watched TV programme here in the UK, and constitutes a large part of our family viewing. Most Saturday evenings the four of us are gathered in the living-room for the live show, and… Continue reading Word of the week: spoiler
Our daughter turned 13 today. Our son turns 15 next month. I am now, literally, living with teenagers. The last time that was true was when I was a teenager myself, many, many years ago. In recognition of this I have dug out another book that I have previously only flicked through, never read from… Continue reading Living with teenagers
Here’s my monthly screenshot of the top of the Championship table, the second tier of English football. Like all the others (most recently in this piece) it was grabbed from the BBC website. Like most screenshots included on this Blog since last December, it shows Leeds United, the team that I have supported since childhood,… Continue reading Concentrating on just one game, for a change
Happy birthday to me, and to all the people I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post from exactly two years ago. This year I am breaking my birthday rule, the one that states that you should have a party whenever the day falls on a Saturday. I thought about it but couldn’t be… Continue reading Breaking my birthday rule
We are back from our holiday in Spain, well looked after throughout our stay by my brother, who has lived there for most of his adult life. In fact, he has lived there for well over half of his entire life. It is nearly 36 years since he left London to set up home there.… Continue reading Word of the week: sunburn
Today is our 18th wedding anniversary. The temperature here in London has been even hotter than on the day we got married, and back in 2001 that was the hottest day of the year. Just like last year, we drove into town to have lunch at a branch of Wagamama. Unlike last year we didn’t… Continue reading Our wedding video, “Dad’s Army”, and an audio treat
A lazy Saturday afternoon. “Pick of the Pops” on BBC Radio 2 in the background, playing the charts from this date in 1967 and 1978. The #1s are “All you need is love” and “You’re the one that I want”. I am keeping an eye on the cricket, Day 3 of the First Ashes Test… Continue reading Ashes cricketers with surnames allowable in Scrabble
The Compartments 