Whatever happened to shirt tails? I was pondering on that sartorial deficiency the other day as I unbuckled my belt and adjusted my trousers for the third time that day in order to tuck in my shirt. Shirts just aren’t what they were. I can remember when shirt tails stretched halfway down your thighs, providingContinue reading “Blog 146. Egg Nog Anyone? Or Cheesecake Perhaps?”
Tag Archives: NOSTALGIA
Blog 144. My Silver Coach Has Just Turned Into a Pumpkin
You know, there’s something about a steam cleaner. When you’ve started cleaning with it, you just can’t put it down. It’s a bit like when you use a pressure washer: you clean up a bit of the front drive and you think, “Wow, this is really good”, so you move on to pressure-wash the path;Continue reading “Blog 144. My Silver Coach Has Just Turned Into a Pumpkin”
Blog 141. The Great Alka-Seltzer Experiment
It would have been the year 1959, as I recall, that commercial television came to Tyneside. Before that we only had one television channel, the BBC, and that broadcasting in black and white only from 1700 to 2300. The hours for Independent Television (ITV) were the same as those for the BBC, but the channel,Continue reading “Blog 141. The Great Alka-Seltzer Experiment”
Blog 134. Entente Cordiale
I sometimes wonder why the French seem to hate the English so much (I use the nationality advisedly because, for a fair old time, the French were very chummy with the Scots). It is a rivalry that has been going on, pretty-much, since 1066 when the Normans invaded England and imposed their will on theContinue reading “Blog 134. Entente Cordiale”
Blog 128. Call me Sir
Mount Crushmore is back. Regular readers will recognise that this soubriquet was first attributed to the enormous pile of rubble left over from the demolition of the old Philips shipyard buildings at Noss Marina in Kingswear, where my boat is moored. Despite the pile being subjected, for over a year, to the attentions of anContinue reading “Blog 128. Call me Sir”
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 85. “Hi Tweety; So Long Jerry”.
Spring is trying to arrive in Melbury though, because of a storm last week, I had to lash down our newly painted garden furniture (Blog 83) and secure the entire outfit to the house using a large ring bolt and a double sheet bend. The narcissi are up and blooming, primroses and celandine decorate theContinue reading “Blog 85. “Hi Tweety; So Long Jerry”.”
Blog 84. Still On The Naughty Step
It is census year in England (I think Scotland does its thing next year) and I have just completed the form online. Yes, yes I know the census date is actually 21 March and I was jumping the gun a bit but, let’s face it, under the present situation we won’t be anywhere else butContinue reading “Blog 84. Still On The Naughty Step”
Blog 83. Whatever Happened to the Little Wurlitzer?
The mice are eating the shed. Yes, the very same shed that – almost a year ago – we laboriously painted in blue and cream, kicking over the paint can in the process (Blog 37). As it contains garden implements, the shed falls under the purview of Mrs S: it is on her slop chit.Continue reading “Blog 83. Whatever Happened to the Little Wurlitzer?”
Blog 82. Splat.
Well, that’s it then: the road back to normality. Allegedly. Much to my surprise, after my diatribe in the last blog, the prime minister has set out a tentative plan for easing restrictions and he has not based it on unrealistic infection targets or other numeric data. Clearly, the prime minister and members of theContinue reading “Blog 82. Splat.”
"A Very Vintage Chap..." 