ULEZ is an acronym that has been in use for a while here in London. It stands for Ultra Low Emission Zone and dictates the cost of driving through various parts of the city. Currently it applies to vehicles in the Congestion Charge zone, which covers the West End, the City of London and a… Continue reading Word of the week: ULEZ
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
I continue to read very little. At the start of the year, I wrote this piece about “Reader’s Block”, prompted by Nigella Lawson using the phrase in a feature called “Books That Made Me”. I have read the odd book since January but am mostly out of the habit. My 14-year-old daughter has been making… Continue reading “The piccalilli was the lurid colour of jaundice”
Here’s a set of phrases I use often: “My work is done”, “Your work is done”, “His work is done”, and so on. As you can see, it involves any possessive pronoun followed by the words “work is done”. I use it to describe the conclusion of mundane tasks (watching a TV programme, finishing a… Continue reading Word of the week: Confirmation
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
“Stuck at 2” is a recurring theme on this Blog: there are posts and menu items here which list all the songs that made it to #2 in the UK chart but did not make it to #1. As far as I can tell, this Blog is the only place on the web where you… Continue reading Stuck at 2: reflections on 2020 and 2021 so far
Last week I posted this piece listing the questions and answers from a Soccer Aid special edition of the ITV quiz show “Tenable”. It was the 1,000th post on this site and, appropriately enough for such a round number, it completes a set: every “Tenable” episode that has been broadcast since summer 2017 (including repeats)… Continue reading The “Tenable” lists are complete
Here are the questions and answers from the special edition of “Tenable” broadcast earlier today (Wednesday 1 September 2021), a Soccer Aid special featuring the London City Lionesses. [Episode listed as S5Ep47.] The format here is the same as other pieces about “Tenable” on this Blog: a list of the challenges, a note on how… Continue reading “Tenable” Soccer Aid special, questions and answers: The London City Lionesses [Wednesday 1 September 2021]
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
The Compartments 