When did you first use a cashpoint? When did you first insert a bank card into an ATM (“hole in the wall”) and withdraw cash? For me it was some time in 1983, when I was a student. It involved using my new NatWest Servicecard, which was separate from my cheque guarantee card. Before that,… Continue reading Two things that we didn’t do in April 2020
At this time of year my son suffers badly from hay fever. In the early spring there’s something in the air in our part of London that plays havoc with his eyes and nose. It started 11 years ago, when he was four. He left nursery one day with his eyes all swollen and red… Continue reading Word of the week: Loratadine
What is the furthest that you have ever been from every other human being in the world? I’m being literal here, asking about geographical distance rather than anything metaphorical. Coronavirus (the COVID-19 pandemic) is still the biggest news story on the planet. Over half of the world’s population is in lockdown, and social distancing is… Continue reading Social Distancing
Earlier this month I attended a very enjoyable Reunion Lunch at my old school. It was the first time I have been back for such an event. I have attended all four of my old college reunions – I wouldn’t miss one of those – but since leaving school at the age of 18 I… Continue reading Word of the week: journal
Last month, through a family connection, my son and I were invited to a “Strictly Come Dancing” Live show at the O2 Arena. We were in a corporate box usually reserved for client entertainment, but for various reasons there were no clients being entertained at this particular weekend matinee. The other attendees in the box… Continue reading The price of things: Coca-Cola at £15 a pint
Following on from three previous pieces (listed below) here’s another set of photos showing what remains after a pint of beer and a packet of crisps have been dealt with. They were taken at various bars in London. The concept of “The 4-Ring Man” was originally covered in this piece from 2018. As before, many… Continue reading The 4-Ring Man, in pictures (Part 4, Dec 2019–Feb 2020)
Today is a day full of zero’s and two’s: 20-02-2020. At 8:02pm tonight the date and time will read 20:20 20-02-2020. 18 years ago today we had the same collection of digits in a different order, and at 8:02pm the date and time read 20:02 20-02-2002. The significance of this, and we were aware of… Continue reading It was 18 years ago today (20:02 20-02-2002)
Ever since I was a child, people have been commenting on how young certain groups of people are, or how young they look. It started with observations about policemen, and possibly a single comedian on TV asking, “Have you noticed how young policemen look these days?” It became a cliché: policemen look younger than they… Continue reading Observations on specific groups of people, and how young they look
New Year’s Eve 2019. Tomorrow we begin a whole new decade, the 20s, or the 2020s. I don’t recall thinking too much about decades coming to an end on previoius New Year’s Eve’s. We made a big deal of 31 December 1999, but that was the end of a millennium, not just the end of… Continue reading End-of-the-decade memories, and some calculations
Pho, as you may know, is a Vietnamese dish, defined by the Cambridge Dictionary website as “a type of soup … usually containing noodles (= long, thin strips made from flour, water, and often egg) and small pieces of meat”. Pho is also the name of a chain of restaurants here in the UK, describing… Continue reading Word of the week: pho
