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The distaff view of life

Within reason and despite my age, I like to think of myself as a tolerant, liberal (with a small ‘L’) and equality-conscious individual in this modern world of same-sex marriages and let-it-all hang-out, in-your-face openness about areas of human life that hitherto – for thousands of years [...]

September 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

I suppose somebody has to do it

Last night – on a wide-ranging array of travels this week – I travelled out Oxford way to have dinner with my daughter and boyfriend who had not long returned from last weekend’s Singapore F1 Grand Prix. Having arrived with nearly two hours to kill because of a previous pub lunch engagement [...]

September 25, 2014 // 0 Comments

Making my blood boil

Readers may recall that I had a full medical. The report was sent by email but in such a secretive and inaccessible way I could not open it. Firstly, my password failed, then in seeking a replacement the site was unable to offer one. Finally, when I spoke to the incompetents after I was given a [...]

September 24, 2014 // 0 Comments

Room for improvement

Now about six weeks beyond my previous appointment, yesterday I had to report to my physiotherapist so that she could assess my progress in exercising in order to promote greater flexibility in my right thigh/hip and back. In anticipation of this version of a schoolboy’s visit to the [...]

September 23, 2014 // 0 Comments

Wealth advice

Typically a wealth advisor charges one to one-and-a-half per cent of the sum you give him or her to manage. He will also be required to identify your risk profile. Most classify themselves as cautious investors which results in a safer though lower return of say 3%.  So if you give them [...]

September 22, 2014 // 0 Comments

Declining frequency

The newspapers openly refer to late summer as ‘the silly season’ – a period when, because half the world seems to be on holiday and there’s very little going on in the world, weird stories involving skateboarding ducks, UFOs and/or the state of Jordan’s (sorry, Katie Price’s) [...]

September 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

An opportunity missed

There is a particular track on the 1986 Van Morrison album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher that resonates with me for entirely personal and sentimental reasons. A couple of months ago I was talking to a lady of about my own age who works in the local travel agents’ shop. Over the course of some [...]

September 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

A visit to the Rolls Royce factory

Yesterday I was invited to a guided tour of Rolls Royce. Rolls Royce is owned by BMW who acquired the name when Volkswagen bought the company as well as Bentley. After a dispute BMW were allowed to manufacture and built a plant on the Goodwood Estate in Sussex. On visiting it, I was immediately [...]

September 17, 2014 // 0 Comments

Progress report

Ocean-going seamanship is a heavily-regulated world which – with inevitable regional variations – is organised by innumerable rules, regulations and conventions, never mind peculiar national customs and other administrative systems. One group of helpful aids are the marine-specific [...]

September 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

You said it, Michele

Spotted on the website of The Guardian today, this article by Michele Hanson on the downsides of growing old – THE GUARDIAN [...]

September 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

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