August 2010

Postcard from South Africa

Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Thanks to mobile phones, Facebook and other ways to keep in touch, it seems odd to get a postcard, but one arrived yesterday from Miss P in Cape Town. She says it pretty much sums up her South African experience — everyone seems to be laughing and smiling all the time. I suppose they can [...]

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Commentator’s Claret-y

Monday, 30 August 2010

There was considerable pressure to ban alcohol from football grounds in the 1970s and 1980s and it is commonly assumed that this was a response to growing crowd violence and hooliganism. In fact it was an attempt to stop BBC commentators making complete asses of themselves as this half-time report from the League Cup replay [...]

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Marriage Made in Heaven

Sunday, 29 August 2010

Fish and chips were a bit of a treat when I was a lad. Maybe once a week I was sent to Pearson’s chippie with a deep dish to collect the family’s meal, getting a bag of batter scraps to eat on the way home as a reward. As I grew older, this great delicacy [...]

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A Very British Coup

Saturday, 28 August 2010

I’m in the process of re-reading A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin who stood down as an MP this year. I’d forgotten what a well-written book it was and quite prescient too in describing the causes of many of the of both country and politics that have befallen us since it was published in [...]

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Fashion Victim

Thursday, 26 August 2010

I’m taking a terrible risk with copyright here by scanning this image from the Sunday Times Style magazine. I wouldn’t need to if they didn’t now charge to view online and could have just linked to it. So I may be sued from hell to Huddersfield, but this has to be seen and said. It’s [...]

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F is for Fish

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

My ABC Wednesday post is inspired by this photo which appeared on my daughter’s Facebook page last week — F is for Fish! It was taken at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town where she is teaching at the moment. The name obviously honours the Atlantic and Indian Oceans which meet at the Cape. [...]

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Felt Tip Top

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

I only wish my printer worked as well as this one.

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Ootingshay Arrotspay

Sunday, 22 August 2010

Of all the creatures in all the world, why an Amazonian Manatee? If my power animal was from that neck of the woods, you’d think it would have delightful coloured plumage and be flitting about in the trees. And my binary translation. 01010011 01101000 01101111 01101111 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010000 01100001 01110010 01110010 [...]

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Gloria Oates

Friday, 20 August 2010

I went to the funeral of Gloria Oates today held at Manchester Cathedral where there was a congregation of hundreds paying their respects. Gloria was my first boss in the NHS. She had worked her way from nurse to become AGM with North Western RHA in 1985, in between times having five daughters with her [...]

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