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Articles by William Byford

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About William Byford

A partner in an international firm of loss adjusters, William is a keen blogger and member of the internet community. More Posts

Calmer in Palma

Yesterday I flew down to Palma for a couple of days which by choice necessitated me setting off for Gatwick at the unearthly hour of 4.00am. This might have seemed like madness but there was indeed a method in it, as perhaps everyone (including myself) might have hoped. Firstly, it was cheap. [...]

December 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

A meeting at the coast

For a variety of reasons which need not concern us here my November has been unusually hectic. As a break from everything else that is going on, yesterday I drove to the coast for a family meeting coinciding with the arrival of my father’s new live-in carer – in actual fact, one specifically [...]

November 24, 2016 // 0 Comments

A close shave on a shopping expedition

Sometimes, looking back, the little things that happen to you seem to give you access to insights upon more universal matters – such occurred to me yesterday. I’ve been at the stage for a while now where not only do those close to me tease about supposed ‘senior moments’ or possible [...]

November 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

Time and life

It’s a slightly strange thing – but possibly these days a more frequent one – being an old age pensioner whilst still having one of your parents alive, but that is my lot in life. That phrase ‘that is my lot in life’ has undertones that I wish it wasn’t this way, but it won’t [...]

November 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

Roger, over … and out

Something unusual happened to me yesterday. Whilst spending Friday and Saturday with my aged parent in the country – in a spot where mobile network signals are sometimes variable to the point where anyone wishing to use a mobile tends to to set off towards the bottom of the garden in the quest to [...]

October 24, 2016 // 0 Comments

Even Groundhog Days are different

Watching your own parent travel into old age is a strange process, a bit like looking down the list of notable people’s birthdays in the Times or the Telegraph, being surprised at how old some of the icons of your youth have become, or even marvelling that they’re still alive … and then [...]

October 8, 2016 // 0 Comments

The art of self-awareness

On Saturday I attended a family wedding in the Midlands. Only it turned out when we arrived that it wasn’t actually a wedding because that had taken place at least a week beforehand.  What we had actually been invited to [billed as a ‘Ceremony and Celebration’] might best be termed a summer [...]

September 19, 2016 // 0 Comments

Something that didn’t smell quite right

Yesterday evening I made a journey into south-west London in order to have the latest in a lengthy line of ‘swift and cheerful’ catch-up early evening meals with my daughter at a local version of a well-known pizza chain establishment. Normally I bomb up to her place in Oxfordshire where she [...]

August 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

Another thing that goes around and comes around

When you’re in your sixties and one or both parents are still alive, the chances are that they’re close to or beyond the age of 90 – and therefore, inevitably, age-related issues are to the fore. The ironic aspect is that, when people ask me about – in my case – my father, I used to take [...]

August 7, 2016 // 0 Comments

In defence of the unspeakable

I’m aware I’m straying above my pay grade here, but the apparently bemused and incredulous worldwide reaction – covered with such relish by the British media – to the announcement that Boris Johnson has joined Theresa May’s government team leads me to offer a word or two in defence of our [...]

July 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

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