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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

A trip into the countryside

Yesterday afternoon I travelled up the M40 to visit my daughter Grace for only the second time since the end of February, almost three weeks before the UK’s lockdown began, when she had announced she was pregnant. A combination of the lockdown rules and a natural desire on her part to avoid risks [...]

June 24, 2020 // 0 Comments

An outing under the new rules

Yesterday – I believe as permitted under the latest Government rules/advice – I travelled to Oxfordshire in order to see my daughter Grace in the flesh for the first time since she formally announced to the world that she was pregnant and due to produce in late September. It is, of course, [...]

June 2, 2020 // 0 Comments

Problems, problems, everywhere

Sailing folk are something of a breed apart for landlubbers like me. About ten days ago I was chatting with a pal of my late father’s whose son and family are – or had been – about a quarter into a four-year project to sail around the world, home-schooling their young children along the way. [...]

May 13, 2020 // 0 Comments

VE-Day commemorations and something quite different

With the 75th anniversary of VE Day coming up on Friday (8th May) I had in advance ‘scheduled for recording’ last night’s 8.00pm offering on Channel Four of VE Day in Colour – Britain’s Biggest Party but then watched it as it went out anyway. As it happens I found its mix of colour and [...]

May 4, 2020 // 0 Comments

You live and learn

Further to my post yesterday about my reluctance, never mind inability, to master some of the intricacies of social media and not being bothered about this, I came across a case in point last night. Having prepared my habitual gin & tonic at 5.50pm in advance of settling in front of my 72 inch [...]

April 25, 2020 // 0 Comments

The reckoning

Okay, this morning I’m coming out of the woods with my hands up. For the first time in my life I’m actually admitting I’m old. It’s taken me quite a while to get to this position for all the obvious reasons, including the fact that every individual in every species on Earth gets up every [...]

April 23, 2020 // 0 Comments

Another day gone

It’s getting tough out here in Lockdown-land. I don’t know what it’s like where other Rusters are living in self-isolation – and don’t get me wrong, we’re all in this together – but living in solitary confinement, which by personal choice I’ve been doing these past twenty years, is [...]

March 30, 2020 // 0 Comments

I Can’t Explain

“We are only of our time” is a principle that all human beings would do well to acknowledge, whether they are contemplating past events and historical figures, or indeed those of their own lifetimes and generations. As in Britain our higher educational establishments ban free speech, cover up [...]

March 21, 2020 // 0 Comments

Battening down the hatches

Since 1st January or thereabouts [I’m choosing this at a catch-all date BCE “Before (this) Coronavirus Epidemic”], no doubt in common with many other Rusters, I’ve been doing my best to cope with a growing inner sense of combined “you couldn’t make this up”;  “where the hell did [...]

March 18, 2020 // 0 Comments

One small step for man … (Part III)

They say that in life that sometimes things have to get worse before they get better and but yesterday I think I just about held my own – which is a laidback way of reporting that I shall be on my way back to the phone shop as soon as it opens this morning to try and discover the answer to a [...]

March 5, 2020 // 0 Comments

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