You can get a train from our town to Weymouth. It takes about an hour and three quarters, which is a long time given how far it is, but never mind. If you go with some friends, you can chat on the way. When you get there you can enjoy the sun and the ice […]
We went to visit my brother, cos he lives in BCN these days. We visited all the sights, and a few out-of-the-way places too. More photos
Published in life.
Dennis died in the early hours of Sunday, August 12th. My brother Stuart was with him at the time, and said it was a peaceful end. Dennis was an extraordinary man; gentle in his heart, radical in his politics, and so well read that he knew something about almost any topic you cared to name. […]
Published in life.
Woolley Street Festival is unique. It’s just a street, with a pub, and not really enough space to hold any sort of public event. Nonetheless: an event is held. Hundreds of people – mostly locals, but some people travel from far and wide – squeeze between the pub and the houses, and listen to bands […]
Published in life.
The dungeonmaster was a ginger-haired boy called Patrick, known to everyone as Paddy. I’d been in the same class as him for years but never really got to know him that well; I was one of those schoolboys who flitted between cliques, not really fitting in with any of them for very long, making few […]
Published in life.
We arrive just before 9pm, and the cramped A&E waiting room is crowded. We take seats, and begin the long wait for a doctor. Opposite us sit Comedy Family; mum, dad, and son. They’re here for Comedy Mum, who is complaining noisily of back pain. Every time Comedy Son shifts in his seat, it rocks […]
Published in tech.
I get annoyed by articles I see telling people “how to blog”, or advising them of “the rules of blogging”, or “what your blog needs to have”. All of it’s bloggocks. A weblog is whatever you want it to be. Comments, feeds, blogrolls, datestamps, whatever, none of it matters. Your blog doesn’t matter to anyone […]
Published in life.
It’s the job that every trainee reporter on a local newspaper has to do sooner or later, and it’s the one that every single one of them hates the most. It’s called the “death knock”. Here’s what happens: word comes in, usually via the police or the ambulance service, that someone has died. Usually in […]
Published in places.
We travelled a lot in our 20s, when we had no children to think about, and earned enough money to afford it. We went to Turkey, Russia, Oman, Italy, Jordan , and enjoyed briefer visits to Canada, the USA and India. But despite its proximity, we never went to Spain. OK, we did – a […]
Published in life.
Late, at bedtime, she gives me that pleading look. Are you coming to bed? she asks, but my face is turned to the screen and I’m tapping very fast, on a roll and determined to empty my mind of the scrolling words within it. Yes, soon, I promise. Let me just finish this. Two and […]