“So let me just get this clear in my mind: you want another prime minister? What did you do with the last one we gave you? Oh, she’s no good despite her winning the month-long selection and election process laid down by the Conservative Party? What’s that – you want to do the whole thingContinue reading “Blog 116. God Save the King; God Save the Prime Minister.”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Blog 115. The Man From Del Monte
It is quite simple really: I pay money to a private contractor, a water company in this case, to provide me with clean, potable water and to take away and treat the sewage and grey water that I produce. It is a contract. I don’t want to hear the contractor’s sob story of how itsContinue reading “Blog 115. The Man From Del Monte”
Blog 114. It Felt Good To Be Out Of The Rain
The heat was hot and the ground was dry, as the tautological lyrics by the pop group America say. And, behold, the British establishment and its media have found something else to terrify us with. Yes, the UK has experienced a ‘heat wave’ and we are all doomed. Health warnings are broadcast, schools are closed,Continue reading “Blog 114. It Felt Good To Be Out Of The Rain”
Blog 113. Mercy Mistress.
The memsahib has taken to wearing horn-rimmed spectacles instead of her usual gold-rimmed designer pair, and I am finding the new headmistress look to be very threatening, intruding on my safe space. I feel I should complain to somebody, though I am not sure to whom. The headmistress appearance reminds me of Miss Fair, theContinue reading “Blog 113. Mercy Mistress.”
Blog 112. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Fog. Thick, cloying, damp fog, silent and sinister, surrounded us. Despite being only few hundred yards from Dartmouth castle, we immediately felt as lost and isolated as if we were in the middle of the Atlantic. And it was not a nice feeling. We had taken APPLETON RUM away from her moorings for a shakedownContinue reading “Blog 112. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”
Blog 111. Janet and John Go On Holiday
We forgot the napkins and napkin rings. I know, I know: how could we forget such a fundamental addition to our luggage for a self-catering holiday? We had remembered the Self-Catering Attaché Case with its chopping board and moulded slots for the Sabatier cook’s knives, the corkscrew and the essential herbs and spices; but weContinue reading “Blog 111. Janet and John Go On Holiday”
Blog 110. Just Don’t Make Me Laugh.
“Come on. Don’t die on me now. You were looking all right yesterday”. I was deeply touched by Jane’s remarks in the Breakfast Room, aka the Garden Control Tower, as I entered Day 8 of my convalescence, sitting there in the corner in my dressing gown and slippers. Then I realised that she was talkingContinue reading “Blog 110. Just Don’t Make Me Laugh.”
Blog 109. There was a cake…and singing.
“All clear!”, Jane called from the kitchen. “What?”, I asked, looking up, startled, from reading a fascinating article in a technical paper about the ductile brittle transition temperature in mild steel.“All clear!”, Jane repeated. ”The clearing away after dinner is done. You can come out now.”Oh dear: in trouble again. I left the dinner tableContinue reading “Blog 109. There was a cake…and singing.”
Blog 108. Paddington Bear Eat Your Heart Out
Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and caldron bubble. It is January, and so marmalade-making time in the Shacklepin household, and the cauldron – or rather the large jam-making pan – has, indeed, been bubbling away for over two hours. Steam fills the kitchen and the extractor fan is roaring away at full speed.Continue reading “Blog 108. Paddington Bear Eat Your Heart Out”
Blog 107. Déjà Vu
Happy Christmas one and all. I must confess that when I made the same greeting almost exactly a year ago I never thought I would be writing the same words in the same circumstances, with Covid still “raging” and “infections soaring” according to the British media. Sadly, the headlines are – alas – more orContinue reading “Blog 107. Déjà Vu”
"A Very Vintage Chap..." 