Occasionally you think of something that you could have said, or should have said, or wish you had said, just a few seconds too late. I have had an example of this in my head for over 30 years now. It was at the start of my second year at university and followed on from… Continue reading Things you wish you’d said
On our way back to London yesterday from our holiday in South Devon we planned to make two stops, Exeter and Stonehenge. The latter didn’t work as planned but we stopped in Exeter for lunch, at a pub within sight of the cathedral. None of us had been to the city before. Every visit to… Continue reading Holiday notes: Exeter and Stonehenge
While we’re on holiday in Devon during this first week of the Rio Olympics, here’s another Olympic memory from “1000 Memories”, available as a Kindle book here (UK) or here (US). Massacre I walked down to the end of North Great George’s Street with Aunt Margaret. She was going to have a drink in the… Continue reading Olympic Memories: Munich 1972
While we’re on holiday in Devon during this first week of the Rio Olympics, here’s an Olympic memory from “1000 Memories”, available as a Kindle book here (UK) or here (US). Mexico 1968 I thought that he was dying. I thought that the man on the television was dying. He had collapsed beside the running… Continue reading Olympic Memories: Mexico 1968
Pangram is the kind of word you try to think of at times and can’t quite remember, rather like palindrome. A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards (civic, Anna, noon or “Rats live on no evil star”). A pangram is a phrase that contains all the letters of… Continue reading Word of the week: pangram
During the last month I have had conversations with three different people (people I had never met before) during which the subject turned to music in the 1980s. I told the same stories three different times, which is the kind of thing that prompts me to draft a piece for this Blog. If a story… Continue reading The Smiths and The Cure
Having grown up in London I am familiar with many of the traditional red bus routes and have seen both the routes and the vehicles change over the years. One evening earlier this week I took a bus that didn’t exist 20 years ago, the number 70, a single-decker which follows a meandering route from… Continue reading A meandering bus route article
Earlier this month I read “Gut” by Giulia Enders. It has the subtitle “The inside story of our body’s most under-rated organ”. I had been looking forward to it, enjoyed it, and recommend it. There are lots of exclamation marks! And rather weak jokes! But that didn’t spoil it for me. This book constitutes a… Continue reading Gut
When I was 13 my mother brought home a reading list from my school’s parents’ evening. It was on the kitchen table the following morning. I guess that they gave the list to parents so that they could see what was expected of their children, and to make sure that the list made it home.… Continue reading A Teenage Reading List
For me April is a month of anniversaries and memorable dates, some of which I have written about as the month has progressed. Today is a day for reflecting on The Clash, one of the great bands, and on meeting two of their three front men, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. (I haven’t met the… Continue reading Memories of The Clash
The Compartments 