Category Archives: Uncategorized

Our six-year-old printer has been misbehaving. Some days it’s been unwilling to work. Last week it printed half a page of one or two documents and then gave up. I went to Currys. Mark, a helpful young man, said that six was a good age for a computer. We discussed the options. His advice: ‘GetContinue reading “Get a New One”

Granddaughter-Hannah has left home and gone to university this weekend. Along with thousands of other young people she packed up her stuff and has been left alone with hundreds of people she’s never met before. The ongoing joke for the last couple of weeks has been she’s ‘learning adulting’. Today the joke becomes a reality.Continue reading “Adulting”

As the snow fliesOn a cold and gray Chicago mornin’A poor little baby child is bornIn the ghetto And his mama cries‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t needIt is another hungry mouth to feedIn the ghetto People, don’t you understandThe child needs a helping handOr he’ll grow to be an angry young manContinue reading “In the Ghetto”

People are always complaining. Last night’s news included… …Complaints from train drivers, continuing their long-running dispute over pay and conditions. This industrial action (or inaction) includes two more strikes days and an overtime ban… …Complaints about the proposed 112-mile line of 50 metre pylons, across three counties, carrying offshore wind power from Norwich to TilburyContinue reading “A Cacophony of Complaints”

My mind’s a bit scrambled… It started with a discussion with granddaughter-Hannah. As part of her pre-university work she’s writing book reviews on several children’s books. She explained… she’d chosen ‘The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig’. That wasn’t what I was expecting… The story’s an inverted version of the traditional ‘Three LittleContinue reading “Unexpected, Unexplained, and Just Plain Bonkers”

I learnt yesterday that PG Tips has spent £50m and two years developing a new blend of tea, in a teabag that infuses in just 60 seconds. PG Tips boss Liam McNamara says: ‘We’re investing a record £50m to keep up with the changing tastes of today’s tea drinkers. Our new blend means consumers canContinue reading “All You Need To Know About Money – In Four Songs”

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ was a 1966 Western starring Clint Eastwood (the Good), Lee Van Cleef (the Bad), and Eli Wallach (the Ugly) … Recently two older gents were engaged in a conversation I’ve heard many times: ‘Young people today… glued to their phones… no respect… in my day… worked hard… entertainedContinue reading “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

Three weeks ago Luis Rubiales kissed Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain’s World Cup win. Hermoso has filed a legal complaint against Rubiales for sexual assault and coercion. Rubiales has finally resigned but continues to insist that the kiss was consensual… Consent requires a sensitive ‘touch-ometer’ I was brought up in aContinue reading “Consent and my ‘Touch-ometer.”

I caught the end of ‘Countryfile’ last night. Next week there’s to be the annual sheepdog trials competition. I remember many years ago watching ‘One Man and his Dog’… I googled it. Apparently ‘Shepherds met for the first time in October 1873, in a field near Bala, Wales, to test their skills and compare theirContinue reading “Shepherds, Mowers, Fishermen and Dancing…”

Sometimes I wonder if my beating heart has a reasonThe thought of breathing only takes my breath awayI’ve spent so many nights wrestling with this feelingDo I have the strength to make it through the day But I was never meantTo walk this road aloneI can always trust youWhen you say This Michael W SmithContinue reading “I Will Carry You”