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Category Archives: diary
In the cellar with Phil
may 29 6am got up at half five for the dawn chorus. there wasn’t one. What made me think of Phil? Three or four years ago Matt moved into the ground floor flat next door. He was cheery and neighbourly … Continue reading
Posted in diary, history, politics
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Water again, fresh excavations.
The villagers of Little Downham in Cambridgeshire made a cart shed out of green oak and recycled 19th century bricks next to their thriving community orchard and woodland. In the shed are various information boards; one tells us that half … Continue reading
A litany of praise
A slide show litany might be a way to overcome or avoid altogether the difficulties I’m having writing this piece, which is to follow on from my embarrassment at getting lost and being stuck in a little red car when … Continue reading
the back of Olympos
Last word on the little dragon from Edward Lear in Crete in 1864: ‘brutal-filthy yet picturesque’. My friends Jay and Tina also saw it in Crete, more recently. And Jay had a very different experience near Olympus: “In 1966 a … Continue reading
Posted in diary, losing, mountains, flowers, landscapes, my life
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round and round in my head
A nice surprise yesterday, a comment on Peniarth-uchaf and Peniarth Uchaf 2, nearly seven years after I wrote them. I liked that place and the pieces I wrote about it. Here’s the Kardashian building again, which has been nick-named the … Continue reading
Posted in and the city, crude satire, diary
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garden notes no 27, repetition, moralising, looking
So what do they ‘really look like’? see Garden notes no 25, Clematis jackmanii, coming true from seed, white variants, ways of seeing(no 25) For an interesting image the photographer often squats or kneels or even lies flat. Down low … Continue reading
Posted in diary, gardens
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A proper blog post 2, mostly trains
News from the mainline, whilst waiting for the local train. A few weeks ago you saw trains which said LNER at the front and VIRGIN at the back. Now they’ve almost completed the paint job. But cleverly they’ve kept Beardie’s … Continue reading
Posted in crude satire, diary, hilarious, language
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Climbing into the Centre of the World (the Kastalian Spring)
I’d read that the flowers in and around Delphi, the village and the ancient site, are marvellous, and that a good place to get away from the hordes of visitors is the Kastalian spring. (Some accounts don’t mention the crowds, … Continue reading
The journey home
I had a ticket – three tickets – for a daring train journey back from Switzerland. Daring to a Brit that is: you wouldn’t contemplate such a journey in this country. It went like this: dep. Pontresina 8.02 arr. Samedan … Continue reading
Posted in diary, history, politics
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a proper blog post
A PROPER BLOG I said to myself, Titchmarsh, you fucking prat, for he had landed on the mat with his neatly swept back hair and complacent smile, arms folded, with words from SunLife we are meant to imagine him saying: … Continue reading
Posted in crude satire, diary, hilarious
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