WITHOUT fanfare my local M&S has today reopened its ground floor clothing, cosmetics and sundry items section. No shouty newspaper or TV campaigns. Almost a whisper; a soft opening as similar cautious events are described. Yet hardly had the doors slid open to provide access to its Food Hall than the other racks of non-essentials…
EVERY day I am confronted by a very visible and irritating triple reminder of one of the more regrettable recent errors of my ways. A stark and unavoidable footnote to a rash and impetuous decision. One that was needlessly expensive but which I am condemned to live with unless I spend yet more money. They…
It was only a few days ago that I suggested many of the words and phrases that have already become lingua franca during the recent global crisis were sure to be well in the running for selection as Word(s) of the Year. Place your bets … Since then we have heard (imagined) cries of “stop…
THERE is something to be said in favour of being an introverted loner at times like this. While all about us fret and fume about the enforced home confinement wrought on their lives by Covid-19, the true loners simply plod on regardless. ‘What’s changed?’ we ask. Situation normal. All’s well on the home front. Far…
Having so far remained free of the horrendous effects of Covid-19, I will however admit to suffering what might be considered a supplementary impact. Not the sweaty feverish three days with a headache and sore dry throat and the accompanying anxieties; they lingered a bit too long for comfort but thankfully eventually moved on. Immune…
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, sang Joni Mitchell. And right now I am hoping that will be the case. Hoping that when Covid-19 testing eventually filters down to the masses, my current concerns will prove justified. That I was not giving in to hypochondria. That tests provide late confirmation of what…
THE elderly man flicked through the pages of the newspaper. Back and forth. Flick, flick. Stopping occasionally to re-read an item, perhaps check a headline, looking for meaning, for answers. Finding none, only confusion. What first appeared as imperatives could also be seen merely as advice, open to interpretation. An either/or situation. Toss a coin….
Things are not going to change. All you poor sensitive souls out there, and you seem to multiply by the day, will simply have to accept my continuing rudeness. There will be no apologies if what I write upsets you. Grin and bear it, turn the other cheek, tweet away on Twitter, fulminate on Facebook, …
ON a day when Waitrose announced it was following a move at least partially made by other supermarkets, it was intriguing to discover how dear old fuddy-duddy M&S was faring. So, in the interests of research (are there other reasons for favouring this pricey purveyor?), I bought a cucumber from the M&S Food Hall (such…
NO matter which way you look at it, it’s a doggone mess. I refer to the widely welcomed but totally ridiculous decision by Cornwall Council to introduce on-the-spot fines for those who allow their dogs to foul our footpaths, parks and playing fields. This is window dressing of the worst kind. The type of initiative…