Monthly Archives: August 2015

Every week, I find myself hauling yet another detail or episode from my childhood and laying it on the table for my kids to see. Sometimes they appear interested, sometimes not. But it does not stop me… As I have … Continue reading →

How often, following a major disaster, do you hear the words “it was an accident waiting to happen”? With the wisdom of hindsight, those so-called experts can point their fingers at one or several causes; yes, of course they get … Continue reading →

The ‘Then And Now’ piece of yesterday lifted the lid on a whole load of images and memories which have lain hidden for more than 50 years. Again my wonderment for how a brain can preserve them and in such … Continue reading →

Then was more than 50 years ago. And for me this was the heart of (very) rural England where time had more or less stood still. In Shelsley Beauchamp, as I have mentioned already a few times, it was almost … Continue reading →

We all have it whether you like it or not. No, I am not talking here about the stuff lying on the seashore, rather those little bits of life that somehow get left behind. Most of the time, our flotsam … Continue reading →

Let’s begin with my dad. He seemed to always wear a tie, the Royal Artillery one. Odd when you think of it that a man who studied Classics at the University of London would become a major in the Royal … Continue reading →

Look back in my blogs and you will find a few about calligraphy, once a hobby of mine. No longer. As a boy, I spent hours bent over a piece of (expensive) parchment with a real pen (you had to … Continue reading →

Yesterday was an especially good one; lunch and a long meandering conversation with a very good friend from my Shell days. Mike lives in Amsterdam and we meet up 2 or 3 times a year either there or here in … Continue reading →

Officially, I retired 2 years ago. Had I still been working for Shell, I would have retired 7 years ago (if I had survived the numerous “downsizings” or “rationalisations”). So one question is “what are you meant to do when … Continue reading →

I have had many, most of my own making. But now my kids are all grown-ups and creating their own milestones and this makes me a very proud dad! How beautiful it is to share their excitement and feeling of … Continue reading →