There's Only One Gary Speed

When I first heard the news of the death of Gary Speed my first reaction was one of disbelief, followed swiftly by shock, and then immense sadness.Natural human curiosity then took over as I wondered how this could have happened. Surely it must have been an accident, perhaps a car accident, an horrendous pile up on the motorway. That would have been shocking but well within my capacity to understand. Failing...

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Listen Here

Although I'm an avid and voracious reader - I have been known on occasions to have three or four books on the go at once - I've always been a bit sniffy about audio books. Surely they're for lazy people who can't be bothered reading, or the blind or partially sighted, who either can't see at all, or have difficulty in seeing the printed word. Well, let me state here and now, I've had my Damascus road moment...

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Cherry Blossom

When I was 10 or thereabouts - in all probability younger - I was initiated into the secret, male (at least in our household) art of shoe cleaning, as taught by an ex Army Sergeant - my dad!The modern approach to the task where one takes an applicator with a foam end and applies polish to the shoe which then miraculously turns shiny hadn't been invented. This was the old fashioned method where a tin of Cherry Blossom...

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Time Travel

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I used to believe in time travel, fuelled no doubt by many episodes of Dr. Who viewed carefully from behind the sofa. Then I got older, and while not losing my hair, I left the things of childhood behind, or so I thought.Break through the space / time continuum? Impossible! Well, no, it's not. On Sunday afternoon I managed to travel over 40 years back in time...

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Hens, Hens, and more Hens

It's funny how the mind works sometimes. How one thought triggers a memory seemingly unconnected. On a recent cycle ride with my ten year old son we passed a stall in the countryside selling free range eggs. This resulted in a conversation about the difference between free range and battery hens during which I told him about the time I had to fit CCTV cameras at an egg farm in Wales. On my first visit there weren't  any...

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In A Churchyard

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,And leaves the world to darkness and to me.The beginning of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" has one of the best beginnings of any poem that I know.It can be read in full here: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Elegy.htmIt came to mind again today as I helped my wife...

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