Category: life
- Snow day ()
- Still European ()
Today we finally, properly leave the European Union, and I’m still sad and angry and frustrated about it. Brexit was sold by liars to people who had no idea what they were voting for. Successive British governments failed to make the benefits of EU membership clear to the British people; instead, there was a constant […]
- Festive decs ()
We’ve toned down our festive decorations this year. Less bling, less pizazz; mainly just greenery from the garden, some candles, and a small scattering of baubles in appropriate places.
- Birthday walk on Gare Hill ()
To celebrate my birthday, we went out for a family walk in the woods atop Gare Hill, on the border of Somerset and Wiltshire. We struck lucky; the weather was cold, the fog was thick, but the sun shone its hardest through the fog and the trees, and treated us to some spectacular sights.
- 10 years of revolution ()
It’s 10 years today since Martha Lane Fox sent the “Revolution not evolution” letter to Francis Maude, and changed how the UK government worked with the internet. (The letter, and its reply, weren’t published until a few weeks later, in November 2010. But as I did in the GDS story, I’m going with 14 October […]
- The splinter ()
I’m publishing this on #WorldMentalHealthDay. I wrote it over a year ago, before the pandemic. I didn’t have the courage to publish it then. Let’s have a go now. I’ve been guilty of numb silence. My way of withdrawing from everything and everyone, not because I don’t want to be with them, but because I […]
- Tested ()
The boy came home on Saturday with a cough and a sore throat, so we jumped on the internet to book a coronavirus test. I was really impressed, because we were offered a drive-through test less than 3 miles away, and less than an hour ahead. We barely had time for a cup of tea […]
- Sitting doing nothing on Charmouth beach ()
There was a pandemic, so we cancelled our holiday and spent a week “not working” instead. On Monday the weather was amazing, so we got up early and drove to Charmouth for a laze on the beach. Charmouth is the place where you go to find fossils. I went for a wander along the beach […]
- Greenhouse last gasp ()
As the rest of the garden starts to wilt and look autumnal, there’s loads of stuff growing and ripening in the greenhouse. Still lots of good things to eat. None of this is my work, I should add. All of it is down to Kate. My potatoes are long since dug up, shared with the […]
- Over-overview ()
Back in the early 2000s, I bought a book of aerial photos of London. It was called London, A Photographic Atlas and it was published by getmapping.com. This was, of course, years before Google Maps. Google itself was just a mere baby at this point. Like lots of people I did some clearing out during […]