I return to the subject of messages on London’s public transport system, specifically the Underground (or Tube if you prefer). Back in 2017 I wrote about it in this piece (“Reporting anything unusual won’t hurt you”), reflecting that clear instructions are generally better than oblique statements, and recalling the signs that were printed on carriage… Continue reading “Items trapped in the doors cause delays …”
Pakie, Packy or Packie, is a diminutive form of the name Patrick. Patrick, as I’m sure you know, is one of the most popular boys’ names in Ireland, more usually abbreviated to Paddy or Pat. I had two uncles baptised with the name of Patrick. My father’s brother was known as Paddy, and the man… Continue reading Word of the week: Pakie
A short piece about a short phrase: “my bad”. I don’t hate it, and I don’t use it. It came up in conversation recently when 14 of us had gathered for a meal on my wife’s birthday. One of the other mums said that she had only just come across the phrase and thought it… Continue reading “My Bad”
My daughter is taking her Mock GCSE exams this month. When she started senior school she did well enough in her initial assessments to be selected for Mandarin classes. She was in the “MEP” (Mandarin Excellence Programme), a pathway that offered extra tuition in the language and the prospect of an extended trip to China… Continue reading Word of the week: Milord
If you pass round Hogarth Roundabout here in West London, or drive over it on the rickety one-lane flyover, you might notice the Tesla showroom on the north side of the A4. It’s on the site of a long-gone pub, The Feathers, which gets a mention in this piece from 2017, along with many other… Continue reading 10 anagrams of tesla
I return to the subject of pronouns, something I wrote about in this post back in 2016. In case you need a reminder of what pronouns are, there are explanations in that earlier piece. You might receive emails these days from people who specify their preferred use of pronouns, typically he/him, she/her or they/their. I… Continue reading UK #1s that contain multiple pronouns in their titles
This piece is about the 4-letter word that begins with “C” and rhymes with “hunt”. In the thousand or so pieces published so far on this Blog I have referred to this word a few times but never spelt it out, and will not do so here. Over the last ten days I have watched… Continue reading Word of the week: The C Word
Many phrases have entered common usage since Coronavirus began to dominate the headlines back in March: “social distancing”, “track and trace”, “immuno-compromised”. A phrase that has been around for many years but has only registered with me in the last few months, when reading articles about Coronavirus, is the “thousand-yard stare”. I first encountered it… Continue reading “Thousand-yard stares”
Have you noticed how some people in public life respond to a question by asking their own questions, and answering them, without any input from anyone else? Some British MPs do it. I have given up watching the BBC1 show “Question Time” in recent years but watched it regularly at the start of this decade.… Continue reading Am I the kind of person who will ask a question, answer it, and then do it again repeatedly?
Last week, on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Chris Evans played “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” by The Beatles, a German-language version of their 1963 #1 “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. I remember enough of my O Level German to know that the title is not a direct translation. “Komm, Gib Mir Deine… Continue reading “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand”
The Compartments 