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”
Tag Archives: OLD NAVY
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 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”
Blog 106. Told You So
Don’t panic! Don’t panic! A new variant of the Corona virus has emerged and it is the Omicron variant, pronounced, according to some classicists, Oh – MY – cron, which appropriately rhymes with OH – MY – GOD. The very name strikes terror to the heart. Worse, it is a mutant strain (my wife reportsContinue reading “Blog 106. Told You So”
Blog 105. Ready in all respects to receive visitors.
“Why have we been given a card marked ‘M’?” Thus spoke Mrs Shacklepin as we stood in a very short queue of about four people at the vaccination centre at the racecourse of the Big City. Adjacent was a far longer queue, snaking away to the door, labelled ‘P’. Earlier, as we had swept pastContinue reading “Blog 105. Ready in all respects to receive visitors.”
Blog 104. Torchy the Battery Boy
“You have done what?”Jane’s concern for my welfare was touching, but also a bit scary.“Um….I may, just possibly, have swallowed those old hearing aid batteries you gave me to recycle. I may have thought they were Vitamin D pills, you see”.She shook her head, more in sorrow than in anger.“I’m going to have to watchContinue reading “Blog 104. Torchy the Battery Boy”
Blog 97. It’s Only a Game.
Look. It’s only a game. It’s only 22 over-paid vacuous young men chasing a bit of leather around a field for 90 minutes. It’s not Agincourt. I have just seen two Daily Telegraph headlines that read, “Southgate summons the warrior spirit of generations past” and “I am in tears writing this…”. I didn’t read theContinue reading “Blog 97. It’s Only a Game.”
Blog 95. Welcome to the Hotel California
Right. The next time I put forward the idea of driving down memory lane (almost literally) and completing a journey on the old trunk roads instead of the motorway (as in Blog 87), then for heaven’s sake stop me. We decided to have A Grand Day Out last week: a Drive, as my parents wouldContinue reading “Blog 95. Welcome to the Hotel California”
Blog 94. You Challenge The Sisterhood At Your Peril.
The son and heir has gone vegetarian. It could be worse: he could have become a vegan (though no prejudice there – I never missed an episode of Star Trek in its day). Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy vegetarian food and we often have it; but I do object to having vegan or (lessContinue reading “Blog 94. You Challenge The Sisterhood At Your Peril.”
"A Very Vintage Chap..." 