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Coming out of lockdown (not really)

I’m sure I’m not alone in taking what might appear to be a somewhat laidback approach to where we have reached in the UK’s version of the ongoing coronavirus crisis – partly fuelled by the impression gained from all we read, see and hear that it’s all very complicated, there are [...]

June 19, 2020 // 0 Comments

On the outside, looking in

Like most Rusters I know – whilst in the cause of ‘staying relevant’ I deny it is a foreign land to me when challenged by my juniors – my depth of understanding and indeed use of the manifold intricacies of social media are minuscule. In fact, bar a brief flirtation with (1) [...]

June 18, 2020 // 0 Comments

You could not make it up

Bob Tickler passed me an interesting consumer problem. He had purchased at ASDA a Google voucher for £25 for  his godson’s birthday. It said on the back that it was only compatible with Android appliances so his godson could not use it to buy video games. His mother, who knows her consumer law, [...]

June 16, 2020 // 0 Comments

Drifting towards we know not what

As – six months on and in a collective state of near-chaos – we dive into the coronavirus pandemic’s vast ocean waves crashing onto our section of the beach of global humanity it occurs to me that one item we are sadly lacking at this point – and the one thing we desperately need [...]

June 16, 2020 // 0 Comments

Great Paintings of the World/Sunflowers

Andrew Marr continue his series with Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh, one of four of the subject the Dutch master painted. It did not really tell you too much you did not know already but I guess the series is not pitched at the connoisseur – more the interested learner. My friend Martin [...]

June 15, 2020 // 0 Comments

It’s going to get worse before it gets better

From today “non essential” shops in England can open for business provided that in advance they’ve rendered themselves ‘Covid-secure’ or whatever it was that Boris said they should. Obvious I cannot speak for any else’s view of how things are going for the UK at the moment, but mine is [...]

June 15, 2020 // 0 Comments

A welcome return on the far side of the world

Yesterday, tipped off by reading Sandra McDowell’s piece in the Rust, after going out for a short walk to collect my newspapers, I made a deliberate decision to tune in to the Sky Sports Main Event channel and have the inaugural match of New Zealand’s new five-team rugby tournament Super Rugby [...]

June 14, 2020 // 0 Comments

The umbrella and story unravels

Readers will recall the saga of my garden parasol. My neighbour E had it. She declined my invitation for a barbecue as she is a vegan and offered me a tomato plant. To show that vegans don’t hold the rights on being picky I declined her gift on the grounds I don’t like tomatoes. Not [...]

June 13, 2020 // 0 Comments

Fiddling while Rome burns (and why not?)

Somewhere around 6.30am this morning Him Indoors will be bringing me my first cup of weekend tea in bed. After that we shall gradually prepare to make our way to the drawing room to watch Sky Sports’ live coverage of the Highlanders taking on the Chiefs in Dunedin in the opening game of Super [...]

June 13, 2020 // 0 Comments

Coming to terms with the world

I approach my subject for today – the current “Let’s contextualise, or preferably rid the world, of every symbol that could be deemed to represent or celebrate a nation’s historical past that is contrary to – or out of touch with – modern sensitivities” movement that is sweeping [...]

June 12, 2020 // 0 Comments

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