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A problem arose in my new coastal residence as the French windows on the balcony were stuck. In this situation I am more than happy to engage  a local tradesman to provide employment to the neighbourhood. I was duly recommended a fellow from a nearby town. He was by birth a Lancastrian and his [...]

May 13, 2014 // 0 Comments

Why has the world got it in for me?

Yesterday was simple in prospect. My car had developed an engine fault – at least that’s what my dashboard screen was telling me – so I had booked it into a dealer garage on the south coast at 8.00am to have the matter attended to and, whilst they were at it, give the old bus its 70,000 [...]

May 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

It may be a stage of life thing …

If media reports are to be believed, some 500,000 tickets for the 2015 Rugby World Cup matches will be dished out to RFU-affiliated clubs this month, with another 2.3 million tickets going on sale in September. Whilst fully accepting that this may partly be a product of advanced age, I find that my [...]

May 8, 2014 // 0 Comments

Brighton

Our editor always likes us to write outside our box, penalty one in my case as – aside from football – what else do I know and what can I say that can interest our 1.5 million readers? However, on a  week that saw Fulham relegated and lose the Youth Cup Final, I am prepared to go [...]

May 7, 2014 // 1 Comment

You win some, you lose some

As a senior citizen, I’m surrounded by reminders of the vagaries of growing old. I live with a range of aches and pains – both long-term and random – that arrive and then depart without ceremony. When I meet with pals I haven’t seen for ages, they tend to look very different [...]

May 2, 2014 // 0 Comments

Betting shops

Interested by the story that betting shops face closure because of a new tax, I visited one in Marylebone High Street. The high street is a combination of stores like Waitrose,Tesco and Boots and smaller shops  like Fromagerie  for cheese and Ginger Pig for meat, as well as numerous restaurants. [...]

May 1, 2014 // 0 Comments

The old ones are the best

Yesterday I drove to the coast to spend a couple of days with my father. In the late morning, my brother arrived to join us for lunch. As the local pub turned out to be shut for the day, we strayed further afield and ended at a gastro-pub close to the sea-shore. My father has a reservoir of [...]

April 30, 2014 // 0 Comments

Certainty has its positive side

Nearly seven months ago, I injured my right hip/thigh playing golf. My partner and I were leading the competition – geographically, I should add, not on the scoreboard – and decided to stride out and ‘yomp’ the last nine holes because we were taking so long looking for our lost balls that [...]

April 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Camaraderie under pressure

Yesterday I travelled to the countryside just beyond Henley-on-Thames in order to watch my daughter and seven other pals (making up a mixed-gender team) take part in the 2014 London West Tough Mudder challenge. I was suitably impressed by sheer scale and efficiency of the operation – [...]

April 27, 2014 // 0 Comments

Somebody’s got to pay for it

Spotted today – a thought-provoking contribution to the debate over financing the NHS from Peter Wilby, on the website of THE [...]

April 25, 2014 // 0 Comments

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