On Thursday, 30th January 2025, we lost our brave, stoic, lovely dad, David Shore, to Motor Neurone Disease. He was comfortable, and we were with him. David was a Scottish, left-wing atheist. A kind, measured and intellectual man with more integrity than most. A civil and chemical engineer, who dedicated his working life to water […]
December is always dominated by Christmas and once again, this year, we were fortunate to have all the family here on Christmas Day afternoon for present giving and our Christmas meal. Among my presents was some really ripe and smelly cheese (Mont d’Or and Epoisses), which I love, but I do feel sorry for the […]
Winter came early to Nottingham this year, with 3-4 inches of snow falling in mid November, and staying around for 3 days until rain washed it away. The gritter-lorries were out in force on our roads but there were still a few accidents. Not the best of starts for our cash-strapped local councils. Observant regular […]
The two annual events I most associate with October are Halloween and the clocks changing from BST (British Summer Time) to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Having grown up in the UK, the twice-yearly change to and from GMT seems entirely normal, but it does surprise me how many adult Brits don’t know exactly when the […]
This September was notable for its rainfall, with some English counties experiencing three times their normal September level. I hadn’t planned to go out much anyway but our daughter, Fiona, did organise a family BBQ, to mark the end of summer, which we hosted. BBQs are normally a good opportunity for me to get out […]
Early August was marred by the appalling mob violence seen on the streets of some of our towns and cities, sparked by the fatal stabbing of three little girls. The ensuing protests were orchestrated by ultra-right-wing activists, and fuelled by inaccurate information, posted on social media, about the identity of the suspect, which led to […]
Well, what a feast of sport was laid before us in July! It included the conclusions of both the T20 cricket World Cup and the Euro Football tournaments. England did scrape through to the final of the Euro football, where they upped their game, but still lost to a much better Spain team. Starting and […]
May was always my favourite month of the year but apart from a few days of warm weather it seemed, like April, to be unseasonably cool and wet. Looking back to last May’s blog, I had made it out to the garden by this time, but not this year yet. In the news this month […]
April always brings with it those perennial harbingers of summer, the US Masters golf from Augusta, Georgia, and the start of the County Cricket season. We also sighted the pair of mallard ducks that regularly visit our garden pond around this time. Not that this April was very ‘summery’, being distinctly cold and wet here! […]
March is always a month of anniversaries. It was in March 2018, that my MND diagnosis was confirmed. And in March a year later, we left Cuckfield, and Sussex, for the last time, 19 years after moving there in March 2000. On a brighter note, my birthday is in March so I have now clocked […]