At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs for contact - Hjalmar Soderberg, from Doctor Glass. It was good to meet up with Mike again. I have known him from my days at North Tyneside and we make the … Continue reading Coffee at Pink Lane
Big Issue
There are many big issues that swirl around in my head. A friend of mine once said to me that you should pick your battles, you can’t fight on all fronts yet these days I am not short of choices. I only have to open the papers or go on social media to get my … Continue reading Big Issue
I don’t need it
The biggest issue faced by the economy is not Coronavirus, nor indeed Brexit but the realisation that we can do without many of the things that we thought were essential. The pandemic may well have caused the recession, Brexit may yet make it worse (who knows) but coming out of it will be no easy … Continue reading I don’t need it
New broadband
I’ve been putting off changing broadband suppliers for years. It just never seemed convenient and I was always worried that I would end up with a worse, or even no service at all. I’ve stuck with Talk Talk for some time but have felt over the last few months that it was time for a … Continue reading New broadband
Spicers blues
It was with great sadness that I read of the demise of Spicers, at one time Europe’s largest distributor of office products. It features heavily in my CV and was the point where I first got into IT. It is a long story and documented many times elsewhere yet somehow I managed to become the … Continue reading Spicers blues
Phil loves books
One of the pleasures of having a granddaughter is having to sit and watch CBeebies with her. It’s not that we encourage too much television watching but rather I don’t have the energy to entertain her for a whole day. We have fallen into a routine of an hour in the morning before we go … Continue reading Phil loves books
Over-zealousness
COVID-19 has brought out the best and worst of us. As we are making our way back onto the shops it is interesting to see the different ways that they are attempting to keep their customers safe. It seems that we have fallen into three groups. The majority of us are going with the flow, … Continue reading Over-zealousness
Babe in the city
Last Tuesday saw me venture back into Newcastle for the first time in a long while. It was my first attempt at getting back to a more normal way of working. I don’t want to go permanently back to an office, not that I have had one in a long while, but I do miss … Continue reading Babe in the city
Goodbye COVID hair
In my list of twenty things I yearned for during the pandemic, published at the end of April, a haircut didn’t make the cut (no pun intended). At that point we had only been in lockdown for five or six weeks and my locks were still manageable. Not now, one hundred days on my hair … Continue reading Goodbye COVID hair
Genetic disposition to housework
I don’t mind ironing, not that I do it that often. I find it quite therapeutic in that I put on the radio and slowly work through the pile that has collected. My wife loathes it however and complains that I am not quick enough. For her it’s the devils work and has to be … Continue reading Genetic disposition to housework
