“Million dollar question: Why do you blog?” Well, it’s certainly not for the money. And frankly it’s a bit depressing that I can remember when the million dollar question was only the sixty four thousand dollar question. I started this blog about eighteen months ago, since when I have published 94 posts (this will be…
“The satisfaction of a list: Who doesn’t love a list?” Who doesn’t love a list indeed? They are apparently one of the most popular genres of posts in the blogosphere, almost guaranteeing more views than might normally be expected. This fact alone is enough to explain why there are so many. I’m quite partial to…
“Run outside. Take a picture of the first thing you see. Run inside. Take a picture of the second thing you see. Write about the connection between these two random objects, people or scenes.” Well, I did warn you that some of these ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ were bonkers. Normally, I would just ignore…
“1984. You’re locked in a room with your greatest fear. Describe what’s in the room.” So, dear WordPress, in this latest of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’, presumably you actually meant to ask ‘what’s in your Room 101?’ The original impact – and import – of the Orwellian Room 101 has been rather lost in…
‘Tis the season to get legless. Apparently. Ah, the Office Christmas Party. That once-a-year event that affords the opportunity to see your work colleagues in an entirely different, and almost certainly unflattering, light. Clandestine assignations in broom cupboards, obscene misuse of photocopiers and puking in the potted plants: you know the sort of thing. Not…
“Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie…” But enough about me. We are dealing here with matters of greater moment: nothing less than the perpetual battle for global domination between homo sapiens and the rest of the animal kingdom. Well, alright then: me versus mice. In retrospect, I’m amazed that I wasn’t traumatized for life by my…
(Today’s Daily Prompt suggested we write about our first day at something.) This is what happened when I rocked up for my first day in a new job in a new country – and a new culture. My instructions were to sign in at the office at 8 a.m. and call someone to arrange a…
Has any designer of a designer hotel ever actually bothered to stay in the designer hotel they designed? The reason I ask is that Sugar Magnolia and I have just spent a few nights in a designer hotel in Bordeaux (it actually called itself a ’boutique’, but the term is effectively interchangeable with ‘designer’) .…
Despite my well-documented inability to get to grips with technology (defined as basically anything invented since the Stone Age), I still have the inherent Y-chromosome marker for ‘kit’. Sadly, though, this thing I have going on with technology is a classic love/hate relationship. I love it, but it hates me. Gadgets, boys’ toys – call…
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.…
the only deadhead in the hameau 