There’s a bit of a thread going on over at Mollytopia, based on (up to) 100 questions you’ve never been asked. On the principle of never looking a gift horse in the mouth in the constant struggle to come up with something to say on this blog, here are a few (37 to be exact) of my own responses:…
Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s good to see you, but on balance I suppose I’m glad that you’re still around – even if you are a grumpy-looking old sod. If I think back to your 1975 iteration, your first as a grown-up, you were a grumpy-looking young sod. In…
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…
Recently, I was wandering around a French stately home – as one does. According to the brochure, this imposing building has been in the same family for over 500 years, but it seems that it hasn’t always been a private residence. Admittedly, I shouldn’t have been handling the exhibits, but I was intrigued by an old…
From ten years ago, a stark warning of the dangers of leaving home for any length of time… The Unkindest Cut You may not even have noticed – and I wouldn’t pretend or presume that, in the great scheme of things, it makes any difference whether you have or not – but of late there’s not been…
Newer members of the growing expat community here in Faire-Le-Dodo (87) may have been nonplussed by the strange state of suspended animation that our commune appears to have settled into for the past few weeks. Please be reassured, this is perfectly normal. Indeed, the French have a word for it – août. That’s August to…
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…
Following the runaway success (25 views in only nine months) of last October’s guest post by legendary hardline activist Dave Spart, we’ve listened to the clamour of our public and invited him back to give us his unflinchingly austere analysis of the highly topical subject of summer holidays. Although, quite frankly, he owes us one. since we invited him…
“Granpa?” (yes, it’s that boy again), “What’s the meaning of existence?” I know my limitations. A question that has occupied the finest minds of Homo Sapiens – and, for all we know, other species as well (those dolphins are no slouches) – for thousands of years was hardly going to receive a definitive answer on the way to the…
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…
the only deadhead in the hameau 