We were mulling over recently what present to buy for our darling daughter’s eighth wedding anniversary. Seeking inspiration, not to mention enlightenment and authoritative knowledge, naturally we looked online. At anniversariesbyyear.com (yes of course there’s a web-site for it) we discovered a list of ‘wedding anniversaries gifts and ideas by year’, both traditional and modern.…
‘C’est la realite de la France profonde.’ So said Serge, who was standing next to me in a group of about half a dozen blokes who, as men do, had gathered round to gawp reverently at the cochon farci which had just, to great applause, been carried into the marquee from the barbecue pit. Last…
From a recent trip to Vallee des Singes in Vienne, some pictures of capucin monkeys – seasoned photogenic poseurs
It’s all the fault of WordPress. And Brian out of ‘New Tricks’. Although this blog site is unashamedly more of an ego trip than a sales pitch, I confess to sometimes feeling that it might be nice if my finely-polished aphorisms attracted an audience that extended a little beyond duty-bound immediate family and kind friends…
Today’s Daily Prompt asks whether I would thrive in a barter-based society. Ha! In a word, no. I have no transferable skills whatsoever, unless you would be willing to pay me to come round and load your dishwasher for you. No, I thought not. I was reasonably good at my job, but unless you happen…
800 and counting Dear friends and loved ones, I have new information that I guarantee is going to have you beside yourself with indifference. This week my collection of downloaded Dead shows has reached the dizzying total of 800. How do I know this and what does it all mean? Or to put it another…
This week’s Photo Challenge asks for a view of the world through our own eyes (or lens). This photograph was taken in nearby Le Dorat, when workmen were marking out parking spaces in the square outside the Collegiale, using metal studs to mark the lines. It’s hard to think of anything more prosaic in itself,…
I always wanted To write a haiku…Oh wait, I think I just have. (That’s enough poetry – Ed.)
Sunday’s Daily Prompt asked in which everyday activity you can get lost in ‘the zone’. For me there can be only one answer. The dishwasher is my domain. I don’t know if there is any single individual who can claim responsibility for liberating the masses from the drudgery of washing up by inventing the dishwasher…
Whoever first said that ‘travelling is better than arriving’ was probably being dragged to Tyburn to meet a masked man with a disembowelling knife and a mean streak. Or on the final approach to Heathrow in the middle of the long-haul early morning rush hour. In the great scheme of things, getting there is the…
the only deadhead in the hameau 