My Grandma had some funny sayings. If she was talking about someone that she was acquainted with but didn't know particularly well, she would say ‘their dog ran down my passage.’ As I got older I did wonder whether this phrase had other, slightly lewd connotations as it was always said with a twinkle in … Continue reading Hidden passage
Playing blind
There are moments in life when I am reminded that there is decency in humanity. Unfortunately they are few and far between these days yet I experienced an event last week that gave me hope for human nature. It was at the rugby of all places. I like going to Kingston Park to watch the … Continue reading Playing blind
If found please return
During the break, I was going through the stuff that I have hoarded. It is the thing to do at this time of year. There is something about the enforced period of relaxation that makes you want to sort your life out and clear out the clutter. It is cathartic. I came across a notebook, … Continue reading If found please return
Happy New Year 2020
For two years now, I have published a list of resolutions. This is my third. They are not things that I have set my heart on achieving but rather things to aim at. Last year I managed two and a half out of the five yet it didn’t matter. I achieved other things throughout the … Continue reading Happy New Year 2020
The last blog of 2019
What happened to the year? I’d just got used to it being 2019 and now it’s all over. It’s become a bit of tradition for me now to conclude the year with a retrospective blog. It is a trick that the television companies use all the time, by compiling programmes from bits of the previous … Continue reading The last blog of 2019
Ice cold in Newcastle
I’ve lived in and around Newcastle most of my life. I was born in North Shields towards the mouth of the Tyne and now live in Morpeth about twenty kilometres or so to the north. Only during the eighties did I live outside of the greater Newcastle area. I love the town. Like all cities, … Continue reading Ice cold in Newcastle
Parasites
Mother Earth is a sentient creature. Who are we to understand what she thinks? Her timescales are vast, a thousand years are the blink of an eye and the life of a man is a mere tick of the clock. Her thoughts are beyond us, celestial, universal, beyond limits. We, on the other hand are … Continue reading Parasites
More holidays than Thomas Cook
I’m going to have to stop using that joke, the one that goes ‘He has more holidays than Thomas Cook’. Perhaps I can insert the name of another travel agent, Hays would be a good fit. Not that the demise of the UK’s oldest travel company is anything to laugh about. The passing of any … Continue reading More holidays than Thomas Cook
Do moles drown when it rains?
These are the kind of questions that occupy my mind, especially if I have a quiet time. Recently I was perplexed by the thought that ‘if it is dark outside and you have the lights on and you open the curtains, will the room become darker? Will the light seep out of the window rather … Continue reading Do moles drown when it rains?
Struggling with my poppy
I have struggled this year with my poppy, not in buying one, that was easy, they are available in most places that I end up in. No, rather I have struggled with the tinge of Brexit that it seems to have attracted. In some quarters, noticeably on Twitter there has been a slight whiff of … Continue reading Struggling with my poppy
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 