Laetare means “rejoice” in Latin. Last weekend the Catholic Church celebrated Laetare Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent. It’s meant as a small, brief respite from the sacrifices of Lent. If you’re off booze, chocolate or crisps, you could take the day off, indulge yourself a little. Two things came to mind while hearing a… Continue reading Word of the week: Laetare
Like many of my classmates here in West London I had a childhood enthusiasm for London Transport. I started primary school in the 1960s at a place that was a 3-minute walk from home, through an alleyway. We didn’t have a car but even if we did it would have taken longer to be driven… Continue reading A childhood enthusiasm for London Transport
You’ll know about the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, the words that are used to represent the 26 letters of the English alphabet. It starts with Alpha, Bravo and Charlie for A, B and C. You might know the remaining 23 words already. If so, you have either deliberately set out to learn them or you have… Continue reading The NATO Phonetic Alphabet
I have 21 first cousins, a brother and a sister. This means that, including me, my generation (the children of my parents, and their brothers and sisters) consists of 24 people. What do you think about that? Does it strike you as a big number, as a Goldilocks number (just right) or rather on the… Continue reading Cousins: 40s, 50s and 60s
In the late 1990s the former footballer Ian Wright hosted a chat-show called “Friday Night’s All Wright”, on ITV. (It was on Friday nights, understandably.) He was a great player, and back then he was Arsenal’s top goal-scorer of all time (Thierry Henry overtook him in 2005). I have positive memories of the show. Wright… Continue reading “Get the Nike [Adidas, Reebok] out my face, man”
On Sunday night “The Shape of Water” won the Best Picture Oscar for 2017. The Oscars ceremony always rewards films that were released the previous year. Last year’s ceremony rewarded films that were released in 2016. “The Godfather” (Best Picture Oscar 1972) was the big winner on 27 March 1973. Robert de Niro collected his… Continue reading Oscars, Trivia and a minor quibble about dates
HHeLiBeBCNOF: you can say it out loud (H-heli-beb-cnof) to learn, or to remind yourself of, the first nine elements in the Periodic Table. They represent hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine. The next 11 elements can also be said out loud: nee-nam-gall-sips-clark-ca (NeNaMgAlSiPSClArKCa). The elements in question are: neon, sodium, magnesium,… Continue reading Word of the Week: HHeLiBeBCNOF
Here’s another weather-related piece, begun while there was still snow on the ground in our corner of West London, but finalized when the temperature had returned to its more familiar level for this time of year. Two days ago I wrote about having the right sort of clothes for our recent cold spell, and yesterday… Continue reading “When you walk through a storm”, and “The Blizzard”
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.” That’s how the saying goes. When I first heard this phrase it was attributed to the comedian Billy Connolly. It has also been attributed to the Victorian-era art critic John Ruskin, the explorer Ranulph Fiennes and the fell-walker Alfred Wainwright, as I noted in… Continue reading “There’s no such thing as bad weather”
There are years when I go to plenty of gigs, at least one per month. Some years, like last year, I go to hardly any. In 2017 there were planned shows that had sold out before I could get tickets, like Tony Visconti and the remaining Spider from Mars playing the whole of the Ziggy… Continue reading Andy White, and “50 quid man”
The Compartments 