I was a Bandsman in the British Army for a few years. My instrument was supposed to be the Euphonium, that’s what I played at school and in the local brass band. They changed me to Saxophone, how difficult could that be I thought. Whilst I enjoyed playing in the band and practised constantly, I… Continue reading Music Librarian
Dad’s first beer
My Dad told me a story recently, about his first beer as a young man. This would have been in the early 1960s. He was off work with Laryngitis, bored and with nothing to do he started exploring the locality on his motorbike, probably a Triumph or a Norton, although it could have been a… Continue reading Dad’s first beer
Great tit (Parus major)
I was lucky enough to spend a week skiing in Austria over half term, it’s a beautiful part of the world and I am always grateful of simply being in the mountains. In the mornings I would poke my head out onto the balcony to look at the weather on the mountain, or to report… Continue reading Great tit (Parus major)
I am a morning person
I like the morning, and when I look back throughout my life I think I always have done, it just never really occurred to me like it does now. The bedroom in our current home faces east so we get the full on morning experience, especially this time of year when the sun rises over… Continue reading I am a morning person
A few days in hospital
Although I’d never stayed in hospital before and only ever had a passing need for their services, I’d always admired and supported the NHS and everything it stands for. Stupidly, I’d always imagined a hospital ward to be a Holby City-esque world of chatting nurses, bowls of grapes and happy endings. I didn’t imagine that… Continue reading A few days in hospital
Why we need supermodels
Any healthy society needs elements that refuse to behave, that don’t follow the rules, ignore what is expected, or what is required. It’s the punk ethos that we celebrate and scorn in equal measure. In a modern sense being a supermodel epitomises the punk, a self obsessed individual refusing to conform to a way of… Continue reading Why we need supermodels
Can you do me a favour?
I hate this expression, it fills me with fear and dread of what is going to follow. A favour is a request, probably unreasonable, by someone who wants something and either doesn’t want to pay for it or can’t be bothered to do it themselves. A favour is different from someone asking for help, help… Continue reading Can you do me a favour?
Life in the Parachute Regiment, aged ten
As a child in the 1970s I went to a small Church of England Primary school in the rural Essex village of Colne Engaine. Situated at the edge of the village the school looked over fields and woods in three directions, in all seasons the slightly undulating expanse of countryside formed a familiar backdrop to… Continue reading Life in the Parachute Regiment, aged ten
The rise of the birthday Buzzard
A few years ago we started calling my Dad “The Buzzard”, due to his bald head, beakish nose and general birdlike appearance. As it turns out we were referring to a Vulture which is more bald and Geoff Coleman like in appearance, rather than the Buzzard, which is well feathered European bird of prey. However… Continue reading The rise of the birthday Buzzard
The dark side of the early eighties
The only music I really had access to when I was younger was my Dad’s record collection. He didn’t have much in the way of vinyl, maybe enough to fit into a couple of cardboard boxes and most of it had been played to death or had been scratched by us as kids. It sat… Continue reading The dark side of the early eighties