It’s two days late I know, but a belated Happy St Patrick’s Day to you. In Ireland you still have a few hours to commemorate the national saint on this Bank Holiday Monday but the rest of us are done for another year. The next time that St Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday will… Continue reading Grand Slam
After yesterday’s reflections on “You’ve got to hide your love away”, here’s another Beatles song that has been on my mind in the last few days, “Golden Slumbers”. Did you hear Elbow’s version of it? It was released before Christmas last year and accompanied an advert for John Lewis. You can check out the official… Continue reading “Golden Slumbers” and conjunctions
This earlier piece, about my childhood enthusiasm for London Transport, could have been written anytime in the last 20 years. It recounted a week that I spent with a schoolmate, just before my 11th birthday, travelling the length and breadth of the London Underground. What prompted me to finalize and publish it was hearing the… Continue reading “You’ve got to hide your love away”
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
The Compartments 