Nothing better than a grumpy old man rant, this one from 2014… Cargo Cult “Undo: If you could uninvent something, what would it be?” Many thanks to the latest ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ for this opportunity to have a good, old-fashioned, grumpy old man rant. What would I uninvent? Oh, so many things if…
We all suffer from them: those tunes that come, unbidden, into your head and steadfastly refuse to leave until ousted by another random nuisance. More often than not, my current earworm will be the song that I’m planning to use for the next Song Lyric Sunday. This may or, less frequently, may not be perfectly…
Say what now? Lowkenuinely A depressed man living in the city known as ‘the ship of the Fens’. Gruzz The lead character from ‘Minions’ taking a nap. Nerf An IT specialist with fat fingers. 41 Not quite the answer to life, the universe and everything. AFAIK A failed guess when trying to solve a Wordle…
From 2013, unveiling the secret world of investment management… Investment For Dummies There are very few things I’d claim to know more than most about. This rather limits – to put it mildly – the range of possible responses to this recent Daily Prompt: “Take a complicated subject you know more about than most people, and…
“It’s life and life only” We’re going profound this week on Song Lyric Sunday, as Jim has asked us for a song that makes us think about life. Back in August, as I recall, we were asked to submit a ‘philosophical’ song, a concept of which I was somewhat dismissive: to the extent that I…
Watch out, Pinocchio… What is a mamba? A ewe. What is a rumba? A drunken ewe. What is a samba? A ewe that identifies as a ram. What is a metronome? A person of diminished stature traveling on the Paris underground railway network. What is a mantra? An unfinished pit with straw laid over the…
Yet another grammar pedant rant, this one from 2015. So; annoying. You have no idea how much of a struggle it’s been not to start this post with the word ‘So’. For that is our subject today, dear reader. More particularly, the increasingly pervasive practice of beginning sentences with this poor, innocent syllable. To borrow another common…
This week we are being called upon to feature a song performed and/or written by someone born during the month of February. Naturally I had to have resort to the internet to discover who might qualify on those grounds, and that is where I discovered that no less an eminence than Johnny Cash was not…
Pants on fire…. What are florins, tanners and bobs? Key workers in a Victorian cotton mill, ranked by weekly wage. What is Dead Man’s Fingers? A tavern in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. What killed the triffids? Not me, guv. I’ve got an alibi. What is the difference between a buck and a…
On my lack of creativity… Creative recounting “Invent a definition for the word ‘flangiprop’, then use the word in a post.” So, the latest of the ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ comes straight from the bonkers end of the spectrum. But while I have no intention of coming up with a meaning for this concatenation…
When I saw that the prompt for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday was ‘cold’, my immediate thought – and one I just haven’t been able get past – was this: a regular on the Grateful Dead’s set-list from the very early days. And it seems particularly appropriate if you have the misfortune to be in…
From 2013, musings on more exotic foodstuffs Seriously? It would be grossly unfair to single out France as a world champion of nasty nutrition. Far from it: sheeps’ eyeballs in Arabia, deep-fried crickets in south-east Asia, even guinea pigs in South America, could all knock France into a cocked hat when it comes to sources…
You ‘avin’ a larf? Verklempt A native German speaker’s attempt to indicate that they’re hungry to somebody from Lancashire. Vittle Mis-spelled French mineral water. Vuvuzela A particularly cruel form of torture. Vexillology Another word for hypochondria. Velociraptor Not a pterodactyl. Vamoosinator A cyborg sent from the future to chase everyone away. Vicissitude Emulation of the…
Unless you’re a quantum physicist with an argumentative streak, you can cope perfectly well just getting by taking as read Isaac Newton’s concept of ‘Time’s Arrow’ (It’s linear and it only goes forward). I must say, though, that I do find a lot of the stuff about the science and philosophy of time quite absorbingly…..well,…
Who were Lennon & McCartney? They used to run a cheese stall on Birkenhead Market. Who were Torville and Dean? I don’t know, but weren’t they always just a short skate from this cinema? Who were Tom and Jerry? Founder-members of the Grateful Dead. Who were Dumb and Dumber? The nickname given by the players…
the only deadhead in the hameau 