The strange weather continues. Yesterday was the 1st of December, but you would not have known that in Beetley. It was bright and sunny, with blue skies until almost 3pm. The temperature even got up to 10C, before falling back at sunset. This confused the insects, who have stayed … | Continue reading
This is the seventh part of a fiction serial, in 756 words. Things didn’t work out as I had expected with Janice. She was happy to eat a Wimpy cheeseburger and chips, then drink two vodka and limes in the pub after. But when I said I would walk her home, she was prepared with … C … | Continue reading
Originally posted on Stevie Turner: Genres: Mystery & Suspense / Paranormal, Romance / Paranormal, and Sci-Fi & Fantasy There’s a $0.99/£0.99 book fair that will be running on BookFunnel for today only. You can find it on the link below: https://books.bookfunnel.com/decfantasticb … | Continue reading
Fashion was important in Victorian society. For the middle and upper classes, proper dress sense was essential, and clothes had to be changed for numerous occasions during the day. They dressed for leisure activities, for business, and then dressed formally at night to eat dinner … | Continue reading
This is the sixth part of a fiction serial, in 754 words. As expected, Susan agreed to change the day of our date. I didn’t go with working late, as she knew that never happened. I told her that some old bloke was retiring, and I was expected to go to his leaving drink. There … C … | Continue reading
A horse-drawn bus and its conductor, 1880s. A young girl cuddling her cat. Spitalfields, 1890. The Rotherhithe Tunnel under construction. South London, 1906. The same tunnel in regular use, 1930. Women chatting in a street in Spitalfields, 1935. Small boys teasing a guardsman at … | Continue reading
This is the fifth part of a fiction serial, in 875 words. When the rest of the family got back, Susan didn’t hesitate to announce that I was now her boyfriend. I was suitably quiet, and not a little embarrassed. Although she had stopped short of doing the deed, she had definitely … | Continue reading
She was born Dorothea Israelit in 1924, into an affluent German Jewish family. ‘My grandfather lived very near a main road, and there was a procession of Hitler Youth, but at nine I didn’t know what it was,’ she recalls, ‘and that stayed in my mind, seeing them march with the swa … | Continue reading
This is the fourth part of a fiction serial, in 872 words. Work at the insurance company was easy enough. I received claim forms for all sorts of things, wrote them up properly on company documents, checked the policy was valid for what they were claiming, then stamped a box at t … | Continue reading
This is the third part of a fiction serial, in 880 words. One afternoon, I was outside the corner shop chatting to a couple of girls I knew. We were close to turning fifteen, and the girls appreciated being chatted up at that age. But when there were two of them, it was tricky. W … | Continue reading
The part of London I grew up in has changed since 1930, but most of it is still recognisable. Girls playing in a back garden in Marden Road, 1930 Shoppers at the busy street market. Blue Anchor Lane, around 1932. A VE Day street party, 1945. Market traders and a passing Tram. Ber … | Continue reading
Another very quiet week. It’s that time of year. Colder weather, dark before 4pm. People are counting down the days until Christmas Day. I went to the restaurant to pay the deposit for our Christmas Dinner on the 25th. Like everything this year it has increased in price, but they … | Continue reading
This is the second part of a fiction serial, in 783 words. Keith was undoubtedly the brainiest of the group. He found school-work easy, and once we were in Secondary School it was obvious he would outclass the rest of us. He helped us with our home-work, and though he tried to sh … | Continue reading
In late Victorian England, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, outlawing sexual relations between men (but not between women) is given Royal Assent by Queen Victoria. Despite the passing of that law, many gay men continued to flout it of course, and some posed for photos with th … | Continue reading
This is the first part of a fiction serial, in 740 words. We had all read the novel at school. The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. But there were four of us, so we called ourselves the four musketeers. Childhood friendships don’t necessarily last a lifetime, but in our case … | Continue reading
Originally posted on Nicholas C. Rossis: I came across Bookbird when I was hired by Yves Lummer to work on the website’s content. Bookbird is rapidly becoming a top resource for authors looking for help with writing and self-publishing, with tons of excellent advice covering ever … | Continue reading
In the last two decades of the reign of Queen Victoria, large sections of the population of England still lived in abject poverty. This was especially true of the industrialised north of the country, where the increase in the population following people seeking work in factories … | Continue reading
Z=Zealous Zealous is usually a word associated with religion these days, as in ‘Religious Zealots’. A rather old-fashioned word that has changed its meaning over time in society. In the past, ‘Zeal’ was a good thing. It made me think of brave soldiers, hard-working inventors, and … | Continue reading
Y=Yearning. I looked up this word to make sure I was using it correctly. I was. yearning /ˈjəːnɪŋ/ noun a feeling of intense longing for something. “he felt a yearning for the mountains” I have definitely yearned for many things in my life. But nothing comes close to how much I d … | Continue reading
I would like to wish all my American blogging friends a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving today. In our troubled world, giving thanks for the good things we have is definitely the right thing to do. | Continue reading
Originally posted on Loren Berg's Blog: I first recieved the following quote as a video featuring Mark Twain, while Twain may have penned this comment, it appears that it is more likely from Shera Starr. It also appeared in something from Sir David Attenborough. Regardless o … | Continue reading
X=Xenophobia xenophobia /zɛnəˈfəʊbɪə/ noun dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries. “the resurgence of racism and xenophobia” I was introduced to this from a very early age. I didn’t know the word until I was in my teens though. The area I was brought up in wa … | Continue reading
I found an article online about this Victorian portrait photographer. He took hundreds of photos of the English fishing port and tourist town of Whitby, in the 1880s. Whitby is in Yorkshire, and is still incredibly popular with tourists to this day. The town also inspired Bram St … | Continue reading
From 1800 until the late 1930s, the ownership of pets in London increased to huge levels. Especially cat ownership, as cats were favoured to contol the mice that invaded every home, and rats too. In the year 1861 alone, it was recorded (by Henry Mayhew) that around 300,000 cats l … | Continue reading
W=Wordpress. WordPress to me means blogging, but I used something else for ‘B’. I came late to blogging. It was not until after a suggestion from my friend Antony that I even considered starting a blog. He thought it would be something for me to do once I retired from work. I loo … | Continue reading
After WW1, not that much had changed in London in almost 100 years. Photographers were still keen to document life on the streets, and the jobs of ordinary working people. A Concertina Man. This elderly man is trying to make a living as a street entertainer, playing his Concertin … | Continue reading
V=Violence Fortunately, I have been more of a witness to violence than a victim of it during my life, save for a few notable occasions when I was on the receiving end. At school, fights were common. They seemed to start over nothing, and end quickly. If teachers did not step in f … | Continue reading
Thinking of films that get overlooked today, I decided to offer a list of recommendations of a variety of films that I thought were great. I have reviewed some of these, but not all. I am only going to supply IMDB links, and/or trailers where I can find them, but I believe they a … | Continue reading
This past week has been dominated by the weather. To be specific, rain. Relentless rain, day and night for days on end. I wrote about it on a blog post, and despite a dry day on Saturday, it started again overnight. As well as being unpleasant and affecting my mood, it has caused … | Continue reading
U=Unhappy Unhappy is a word that I (and others) use frequently to easily describe so many things. I can be unhappy if it is raining when I want to do something ouside. I can be unhappy if they cancel a TV series that I really enjoyed. I can be unhappy if a shop has sold … Continu … | Continue reading
Lactose Intolerance. This post may come under the category of ‘too much information’ for some readers, but I have published it anyway, as it may be helpful to those experiencing the same symptoms. During the peak of the heatwave this summer, when it reached 39.4 C (103F) in Beetl … | Continue reading
Like most people, I was shown a version of the Wild West by Hollywood films, and TV shows. Gunfights, saloon bar brawls, brave sheriffs, and cowardly bushwackers. The nice guys wore white hats and tin stars, the bad men had black hats, robbed stagecoaches, and shot people in the … | Continue reading
T=Technology. It is impossible to fully describe the impact of technology since I was born. I was initially brought up using an outside toilet, and a tin bath filled on Friday nights. The television had one channel, if you were lucky enough that it was working properly. There was … | Continue reading
**No plot spoilers.** This film was shown on TV over the Halloween period. I had never heard of it, but recorded it on the PVR. The action begins in a remote farmhouse in the small community of Brightburn, Kansas. A couple is in bed one night when something like an earthquake sha … | Continue reading
I have posted many photos about London in the 19th century. But I never forget that 60% of my followers are from America, and I want to post things relevant to them as well. So here is a post of photos from the famous photographer, Jacob Riiss, and his images of poverty in New Yo … | Continue reading
S=Science This S is about the applications of science in my lifetime. Things that were unimaginable when I was born are commonplace now. Some of those are materials; things like Teflon, Polyurethane, Velcro, Waterproof Fabrics, Memory Foam, Polyester. They have provided advances … | Continue reading
I found these photos by the keen amateur photographer Edward Linley Sambourne, who was also the chief cartoonist for Punch magazine. They are early examples of candid street photography, using a hand-held camera. He was obviously interested in the fashions of the day, and as you … | Continue reading
R=Regrets. When you reach the milestone of 70, you must surely have a few regrets? I know I do. I would have liked to have been better prepared for my first marriage, that’s for sure. It would have been nice if my second marriage had worked out better too. But it didn’t, so hey-h … | Continue reading
When I went to bed on Tuesday night, it was raining heavily here. I lay in bed listening to the sound of it, driven against the window by strong winds. Then I woke up on Wednesday, and it was still raining torentially. It carried on that way until just after midday, when a break … | Continue reading
I don’t think these photos need any captions. :) | Continue reading
Q=Quality One good piece of advice my dad gave me was, “Pay more for quality”. I took that to heart. A handmade bespoke suit can last a lifetime. Loake shoes may cost four times as much as a high-street brand, but will last you ten times longer. A Sony Colour TV was three times m … | Continue reading
P=Politics From an early age, I became interested in left-wing politics. I was very aware of social injustices, and also inspired by studying the Spanish Civil War, and the International Brigade soldiers who volunteered to go and fight in what was a ‘just war’. In my teens, I joi … | Continue reading
I found some more! I hope you are not bored with these yet? All of these photos were taken between 1880 and 1889, when Victoria was still The Queen. (Some can be enlarged by clicking on them.) An early electric car in Lower Regent Street. You can see the chauffeur and footman in … | Continue reading
N=Nostalgia I have always been a nostalgic person, even when I was quite young. Once life started to become ‘modern’, in the late 1960s, I was only 16, and already looking back to when I was at primary school, spending a lot more time around my family, and living close to the doc … | Continue reading
M=Mum It was always going to be mum for ‘M’. What else could it have been? I have written so much about my mum on this blog, I doubt anyone needs to be reminded of what a great mum she was to me, and what great friends we were. Rather than repeat all that, here … Continue reading … | Continue reading
O=Ollie Ollie has only been in my life for just under 11 years, but has already become such a significant part of my whole life so far. Everyone knows how much I love my dog, my constant companion. He is the heart and soul of my blog, and has become a firm favourite of many … Con … | Continue reading
For the Fallen Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21 September 1914. With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the caus … | Continue reading
Is it just me, or has this year gone faster than 2021? Julie booked our Christmas Day meal with the restaurant yesterday, and not long after that it will be 2023. Each year I get older seems to pass by more quickly. Perhaps that is one of the curses of old age? —————————————————— … | Continue reading