This post is the third and final instalment of a brief series about getting our car repaired. It has nothing to do with birth control. Yesterday evening I collected our car (a 13-year-old Peugeot 307) from the service department of our local dealership. It had been there for exactly 13 weeks. It cost slightly less to repair than the initial quote, and for almost all of its… Continue reading Nearly 13 weeks to fit a new coil
Our local minicab office has had a refurb. It had lain empty for a year or two but now the single-storey pair of rooms attached to a nearby house has been done up. It doesn’t appear to be open yet, but I hope it will be soon. At the start of 2016 I wrote this piece predicting that I would not be signing up for the ride-hailing… Continue reading Word of the week: statioons
In the late 1970s my mother made a household change that affected all five of us (my father and her; my brother and sister and me: the three of us were teenagers at the time). She replaced our traditional bedding of sheets and blankets with duvets and duvet covers. Although this switch was made during the summer, I caught a cold within a week of sleeping… Continue reading In praise of duvet covers
I have had the same phone number all my life. It reflects the fact that I still have the same dialling code, and the same postcode, that I had when I was growing up. We rarely use this number (our landline as it is now called) and we get very few calls on it. One evening last month the phone (the… Continue reading A Telephone Tie-break
In recent years, things have changed at many of our local green spaces. In parks, commons and the grounds of local landmarks, designated areas have been left to grow wild. For decades these spaces were weeded, mown and kept tidy. Now they are deliberately left uncultivated for much of the spring and summer. In some cases these… Continue reading Head-high weeds, just like when I was a child
The Premier League began last weekend. As I’m sure you know, it is the top division in English football. This is the League’s 30th season. If you are under 40, or do not follow football closely, you might not remember its predecessor, Division One of the Football League. None of the current squad members played in that division. If they had, they would be at least 46 now, and the oldest player… Continue reading The 50th Premier League team
Even at the best of times, we are not great travellers. My wife and I have taken our two children on holiday most years since 2010, as far as Ireland, Spain, France and Italy. My wife travelled to Israel in 2017 to visit members of her family. I took my son to Spain at the… Continue reading Swimming in the River Thames
We continue to subscribe to Netflix, nearly two years after I agreed to my daughter’s request that we sign up for the “free” 30 day trial. I learnt recently that I could reduce my monthly fee down a bit. We are still paying extra so that we can run it on up to four devices.… Continue reading World of the week: Dazzle
Today is Friday 13th. Mind how you go, especially if you believe that unlucky things happen on days like this. If you do attach significance to this date, you may be relieved to find that it is the only time in 2021 that Friday will fall on the 13th day of the month. Next year it will also happen just once, in May. Last year it happened twice, as it… Continue reading Reflections on Friday 13th
Regular readers of this Blog will know that there are two sports teams that I follow more keenly than any others: Leeds United (English football) and Kilkenny (All-Ireland hurling), known by supporters and non-supporters alike as The Cats. Over the course of 10 seasons, beginning in 2006, Kilkenny won 8 All-Ireland titles, an unprecedented run… Continue reading Kilkenny lose to Cork, just like the old days
The Compartments 