My school career lasted exactly 40 terms. There were 6 years (or 18 terms) of primary education, then 7 years (21 terms) of secondary, and a final term after A-Levels for Oxbridge exams. I missed plenty of school days through minor illnesses, at least a few days per term with colds or even the odd… Continue reading The full extent of my truant behaviour: three lessons
We are in the middle of a heatwave here in the UK. The Oxford Dictionaries definition is very straightforward: “A prolonged period of abnormally hot weather”. I will use their spelling, one word rather than two, though the Merriam-Webster dictionary entry (“a period of unusually hot weather”) lists it as “heat wave”. I have mentioned… Continue reading Word of the week: heatwave
Back in the 1970s, when walking to school, I often passed a man who behaved in a way that was unique to pedestrians in this part of West London. He walked purposefully, carried a briefcase in his right hand, and held an open book in his left hand, not quite at arm’s length, just below… Continue reading Walking and reading
Last week, just before the half-term holidays began, my 11-year-old daughter passed her Cycling Proficiency Test. She has proved that she is capable of riding a bicycle on the streets of West London. It’s a test that I never took in my childhood. I switched schools just before my 9th birthday and my new school… Continue reading Cycling Proficiency
Last Saturday afternoon my 13-year-old son and I took a trip to Croydon, about an hour’s drive away. Our destination was Flip Out London, “London’s only pinball club”, home to 30 different pinball tables in a unit on an industrial estate. You can check out their website here. It’s open most weekends, and for an… Continue reading Pinball binges of the 1990s
Like last week’s word (Cadillac), this week’s has been prompted by a question on a TV quiz show: What is the largest member of the grouse family? The answer is capercaillie. It’s also known as the wood grouse or heather cock. Last week’s piece reported that a couple on “The 100k Drop” lost all of… Continue reading Word of the week: capercaillie
We have been experiencing extremes of weather here in London over the last month. Three weeks ago we had the hottest April days on record. Two weekends ago it was unseasonably cold, down to 5 degrees centigrade on the last Saturday of April. Last weekend the temperatures were their highest ever for a May Day… Continue reading Fab ice lollies and childhood rules
Happy St George’s Day to you. If you are planning the kind of celebrations that people like me sometimes indulge in on St Patrick’s Day, have one for me, and have a good time. I will be unable to join you, but I have been reminiscing about a St George’s Day back in the 1980s… Continue reading Drunk for 8 shillings
My mother’s funeral took place 21 years ago today, 18 April 1997, a Friday. In each of the last two years I have written about the anniversary of her death, 10 April, first in this piece, and then here, last year. I didn’t publish anything about this year’s anniversary and have instead drafted the thousand… Continue reading A funeral memory: knowing where the trouble will come from
My subject is memory. Most of the things that I want to remember come to mind easily. Some of the things that I don’t want to remember also come to mind easily, which is a shame. Every now and then a name or word fails to come to mind and, when it finally does, I… Continue reading Cadby Hall
The Compartments 