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
ITV continue to broadcast repeats from the first series of their quiz show “Tenable”, first shown in the last two months of 2016. Questions and answers from Episodes 11-15 were recorded in this piece from last year, and the shows were repeated again last week. Yesterday, (Monday 16 August 2021), Series 1 Episode 16 (S1Ep16)… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, Series 1 Episode 17 (repeated again Tuesday 17 August 2021)
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 Word of the week: Dazzle
ITV continue to broadcast repeats from the first series of their quiz show “Tenable”, first shown in the last two months of 2016. Questions and answers from Episodes 11-15 were recorded in this piece from last year, and the shows were repeated again last week. Earlier today (Monday 16 August 2021), Series 1 Episode 16… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, Series 1 Episode 16 (repeated again Monday 16 August 2021)
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
Congratulations to all the A-Level students who have collectively earned a record-breaking set of results this week. Commiserations to those who did not achieve what they wanted. And a big “Do me a favour, mate” to all the clowns who emerge at this time of year to tell us that things were much harder when they were at school,… Continue reading 2 ‘A’s and a ‘B’
The Tokyo Olympics finished yesterday. We had got used to the Olympic Breakfast programme every morning on BBC1, catching up on the overnight action, and we’ll miss it. The show usually involved news of gold medals for Team GB, right up to yesterday morning when Jason Kenny (Keirin, cycling) and Lauren Price (boxing) completed the medal tally to leave GB fourth… Continue reading Word of the week: Sayonara
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
Ever since my family acquired a radio-cassette recorder in the mid-1970s I have been in the habit of recording radio shows. I acquired a VCR in the mid-1980s and since then I have also recorded thousands of hours of TV programmes. I have spent too much of my time doing this, and have recorded too… Continue reading The man who recorded too much
Last month, sorting through a large plastic storage box full of cards, invitations, old paperwork and newspapers from significant dates, I found this: It’s a notebook dating back to 1947 containing my father’s handwritten records of his athletics achievements: distances and times in the events he competed in at various meetings all over Ireland. He… Continue reading My family’s 74-year span of athletics times
The Compartments 