Excuses? No sirree. Reasons, reasons

‘Where have you been?’ you’re almost certainly not wondering. Look, I know it’s been over a month since my last post, but it’s not for the want of trying. Let me assure you, I haven’t been idle. Although not for the want of trying. So here are ten perfectly good reasons – not excuses, oh dear…

Be (t)here now

I do like the occasional idle flight of fancy (to be fair, you had me at ‘idle’) and today’s Daily Prompt sent me off on one, since it involves two subjects close to my heart: technology and travel. I’ve written about both before but – as far as I can recall – never the two together.…

#idle misanthrope

My Twitter account is a bit like my bicycle; it’s there, it’s mine alright, but it doesn’t get used much. WordPress is the only reason I signed up to Twitter in the first place, but as I pointed out at the time, since I know hardly anybody else with a Twitter account, its value as…

Colonic irritation

Oh WordPress, you shouldn’t have got me started. A recent Daily Prompt asked about punctuation. In particular, it asked ‘do you overuse exclamation marks? Do you avoid semicolons like the plague? What type of punctuation could you never live without?’  Like it says on Wikipedia, punctuation is: “the use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical…

Don’t try this – anywhere

There are probably lots of things you’ve never done. Some of these you will never do: hopefully these will include the classic duo of incest and Morris dancing. Other, less reprehensible, things you may do and be glad of the fact. But there are others that you will do at some point and rather wish you…

Never mind my generation, what about yours?

I got on a bus recently. Let me tell you, my life is one long party. I had a suitcase with me so, wanting to stay close to the luggage rack, I flopped down in the nearest seat, only noticing a couple of minutes later that it was one prioritised for the elderly and infirm. My…

Too much information

For one who has turned self-effacement into an art form, ‘doing’ this blog doesn’t come naturally, especially when – inevitably – little autobiographical details emerge from time to time. Nonetheless, today I’m going to lift the veil just a little bit more. Rest assured that absolutely no self-aggrandisement is intended. I’d frankly rather pull out my own teeth than start vanity publishing.…

Jobs for life, or why I would make a decent au pair

Impelled by the desire to reassure my small but perfectly formed readership that I haven’t turned my toes up just yet, I thought I’d better do something. This isn’t so easy. I’m quite heavily reliant for inspiration on the daily prompts, but since most of those recently seem to have been recycled from last year’s…

Hot Stuff

Some people swear that “It’s impossible to eat badly in France”. Well it isn’t. It’s certainly possible to eat extremely well in France – often in the unlikeliest and unpromising places, which is part of the country’s great charm. But restaurant quality is as variable here as anywhere else. Contrary to the image that they try to…