17 September 2021

Fishy feelings over dubious delights of national dish

, , , ,

WHAT is so damned special about fish and chips? The question has to be asked after again foolishly succumbing to the fiction that a chunk of lukewarm battered cod and a heap of pale limp would-be chips is the food of the gods. An endlessly desirable feast for a nation. A national treasure even. Allegedly… Continue Reading

17 September 2021

Fishy feelings over dubious delights of national dish

, , , ,

WHAT is so damned special about fish and chips? The question has to be asked after again foolishly succumbing to the fiction that a chunk of lukewarm battered cod and a heap of pale limp would-be chips is the food of the gods. An endlessly desirable feast for a nation. A national treasure even. Allegedly… Continue Reading

10 August 2021

In the long run, even the running has to stop

, ,

TIME for reflection on this running life. For “reviewing the situation“, as the fiendish Fagin sang in the wonderful film version of Oliver, way back in the 1960s. A need to stop awhile and consider what lies ahead. Like a rambler who has tramped their way steadily to the top of a Dartmoor tor, resting… Continue Reading

15 July 2021

Beware: freedom for all includes the idiots

, ,

AS we hurtle towards F-Day it might pay to heed the news from Australia. If you can find it. So little is ever classed by UK editors as sufficiently noteworthy to be included in their pages. Unless, of course, it is of a bushfires, mouse plagues or shark attacks. Although the latter have now been… Continue Reading

5 July 2021

Yippee, freedom . . . it’s holiday time

, ,

Aah . . . the sheer joy, relief, escape, freedom and get-away-from-it-all happiness of a holiday trip.  These hordes are lockdown escapees from the Australian state of Victoria queuing to “enjoy” the snowfields, as pictured by the Herald Sun. Yet again I am prompted to wonder what is the sense and point of holidays. Why… Continue Reading

4 July 2021

Better to be clever than smart

, ,

ALMOST daily we are urged to place our trust in rapidly advancing new technology. The catch-cry is “Get Smart”.  It is almost biblical in its unwavering insistence. Accept and ye shall be saved. Adapt to everything smart and ye shall enter the Elysian uplands where all the gizmos and contraptions that surround us will cease… Continue Reading

29 May 2021

So why not turn the damned things off?

, , ,

THERE can be no excuse or support for the extreme racial abuse that is incessantly directed at footballer Marcus Rashford, MBE. No justification or excuses can be made for such base, thuggish and uncivilised behaviour by one human being against another. And even more so when the puny and unsustainable reason seems to be that… Continue Reading

10 May 2021

Definitely not ‘appy, Jan

, ,
Wow, what an app. Thanks to Aziz Acharki, Unsplash

EXCUSE the aspirated headline. My apparent descent into Cockney lingo has its reasons. As does the punning use of this Australian phrase that was rapidly popularised after being given birth by a Telstra television ad in 2002. As explained by the Urban Dictionary, it is now used when someone “is pissed off” at another person,… Continue Reading

3 May 2021

The lights are on but no one’s home

, , ,
Now where was I. Picture - Rad Cyrus, Unsplash

SOMETHING’S not right. I already had my suspicions but chose to ignore them. Now I fear that is no longer possible; recent events have convinced me so. Time to face the fact: incidents of going into another room and not remembering why you did so are commonplace in one’s more senior years. At first, they… Continue Reading

18 February 2021

Whingers galore and hardship hell, isolated in the Oxfordshire wilds

, , , ,
Yellow school bus

Living, coping and observing in the age of Covid #9 NO doubt the nation’s heart has gone out to another victim of the pandemic. Fortunately it is Random Acts of Kindness Week (yes, really) and help may soon be on its way to this poor soul. There are likely numerous others in much the same… Continue Reading

27 January 2021

Happy fat makes deadly fat and an easy Covid target

, , , , , ,
Wild horses can't change us by Mikael Kristenson courtesy Unsplash

  Living, coping and observing in the age of Covid #6 Jan 2021: THE stable door is now shut tight. Bolted and barred. Triple locked and with no sign of a key or code. And unoccupied. The horse it once contained, an unruly beast at the best of time, seized its pre-lockdown moment and is… Continue Reading

End of content

End of content

Receive my ‘Read. Write. Run. Repeat.’ newsletter

Regular updates of my reviews and commentary direct to your inbox.