The whole wedding scene has gone too far. This year, couples and/or their parents will be spending an average of £16,000 for the pleasure. Hiring out castles, buying matching dresses and suits for those close to the bride and bridegroom, and for lots of couples paying the cost of wedding/bridal consultants/planners who jostle on the…
When words failed me
It has been a terrible few weeks and I am writing this blog in the saddest of circumstances. At the end of February my wife and I were completely thrown by the death of our eldest son. It has all been very painful, but one way that has helped us deal with our grief has…
Sin and Mr Parker
Yesterday morning, just after eleven, I suddenly realized that I now been sinning for at least seventy years. I had already emptied the contents of my supermarket trolley into a shopping bag, but I continued to stand there, observing with more than a little fascination the purchases made by the amply proportioned lady fumbling in…
Teenage love poem
I can see it now-- the Chaldon Village Hall Coats to the left, backs to the wall “Baby Love” blasting through a crack in the door And not getting home ‘til a quarter to four. Oh ramshackle hut, roof painted green Parents OK, they’ll know where you’ve been. A table set up for collecting the…
Spring’s hope eternal
Some see me as an angry man, and I concur. In my defence the anger is usually focussed on only one or two themes at a time and at the moment the issue riling me is the sloppy way we define the seasons, how we are letting skewed reasoning dominate common sense. As I see…
Legend of the District Line
As I get older I get more picky, and this extends to where I sit when travelling. For some time I have had favourite seats in cars and planes. The list now includes places in the underground, more specifically, in trains on the District Line. Here, making sure I find one of my favourites is…
The name of the bat
Graham Dukes makes the case for the fluttermouse. Whatever one’s world view, one can hardly avoid having a sneaking respect for creation. The old seven-volume Taxonomy of the Animal World, that has graced our bookcase for years, is reason enough for that. I shall never digest more than a tiny fraction of it, but I…
Territorial waters
Builders and developers seem to get away with murder and in practice it is best to stop any errors or oversights in their tracks. Certainly, relying on the council or the courts to reverse excesses once they have been 'set in stone' rarely works. Keeping an eye on the builders requires vigilance, and in the…