I had to go into Norwich to the eye clinic today, and I have not long got back. It was raining here, and in the City, so by the time I walked to and from buses, I was fairly ‘damp’. I do not have the enthusiasm to tidy up and complete my draft of the … Continue reading Sorry, No … | Continue reading
In 1994, I saw this video on a TV music programme and I immediately liked the voice of the singer, the American songwriter, Lisa Loeb. I hadn’t heard of her before that, and since 1994, I do not recall hearing any of her other songs. However, she is still around, according to the … | Continue reading
This is the second part of a fiction serial, in 759 words. On the sixth of January, nineteen-o-one, it was a cold afternoon. Lucy Paulson stopped to catch a breath after beating the rug. As she walked forward to get it off the rope her waters broke, soaking her long apron-dress a … | Continue reading
Once the rain stopped yesterday, I decided to head for (what I call) Beetley Woods, the woodland surrounding the playing fields and the Village Hall. It is generally less muddy there, but I wore my Wellingtons just in case. As I wandered around, I came across some examples of hum … | Continue reading
Not Retro, not Significant. Just an occasional selection of songs I really like, in random order. Florence and the Machine are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd … | Continue reading
This is the first part of a fiction serial, in 763 words. The staff at the care home had been busy. Gold balloons, and a huge card signed by everyone. There was going to be a cake with the raised number one hundred, and a candle topping each zero and the one. She would never … Co … | Continue reading
An interesting comparison of available rail travel. | Continue reading
Things that made me smile this mornig. Grammar in Ancient Egypt. Trump-related. | Continue reading
This week has been notable for me because of two things. Not sleeping properly so feeling constantly tired, and relentless rain that drove me to distraction. ————————————————————————————— Tomorrow, we are returning to the Animal Hospital in Fakenham to collect Ollie’s ashes. Hard … | Continue reading
I had to drive to the supermarket on Friday afternoon, and I took a camera along to photograph something different in our local town of Dereham. However, the rain was unrelenting, so I returned with my shopping, but no photos. After a badly disturbed sleep last night, I woke up t … | Continue reading
The official figures are in. On the TV News last night, it was announced that February 2024 was the wettest on record. (Since records began) That will come as no surprise to most residents of Great Britain, I assure you. And it feels like March has started out with the intention … | Continue reading
Julie found these on her Facebook memories yesterday. A rare occasion when Ollie wanted to sit on the sofa, and allowed himself to be covered by a blanket. He was still dopey after coming back from the Vet and recovering from an anaesthetic. At only six months old, he had just ha … | Continue reading
My thanks to Gavin from New Zealand for sending me a batch of chucklesome images to lighten my mood. Here is a selection of them. | Continue reading
I found a company online that sells pet-related key rings/tags. I bought one for each of us. The photos can be greatly enlarged by clicking on them Front. Back. | Continue reading
This is all 18 parts of my recent photo-prompt serial, in one complete story. It is a long read, at 13,870 words. Ricky was cleaning one of his mowers when the noisy truck appeared around the corner and swung onto his driveway. It was Cisco, he would know that truck anywhere. The … | Continue reading
I recently came across this old post, published before there were photos of me on this blog. It has hardly been read in the past 10 years, and I think only Jude will remember it. | Continue reading
I recently changed my blog header photo for the first time in many years. I have used a photo I took the other day, while walking in the countryside quite close to our house. For a few days, the photo was too small to fill the gap at the top, and was just an oblong … Continue rea … | Continue reading
On the way back from Hoe Rough yesterday, I was crossing the field next to the Beetley Meadows playground when I encountered a small group of dog-walkers, people I know in passing. Naturally, they were surprised to see me without Ollie, so I had to explain what had happened to hi … | Continue reading
Since my first walk without Ollie on Friday the 23rd, I have continued to get ready every day, and go out walking in the afternoon. It would be too easy to just sit at home on the computer, or watching films or TV. I have to keep my routine going, even without my constant compani … | Continue reading
Cinema Organs. They would often appear on the stage via a lift from below, and some were illuminated like this one. Dream house the sea. I would buy one if I could afford it. Mid-air hotel room. I would definitely like to spend the night here. A Vespa scooter with matching luggag … | Continue reading
It seems I have a theme developing this week, cover versions that were bigger hits than the original, with the original version almost disappearing after the success of the cover. So, here’s another one. Russ Ballard was a member of the British band Argent. He left the band in 19 … | Continue reading
Visit the post for more. | Continue reading
This is the final part of a fiction serial, in 794 words. State Trooper Davis saw the boat on the roadside and stopped to check it out. There was nothing much in the cabin, and no sign of anyone around. So he radioed in to ask if anyone had reported such a boat and trailer … Cont … | Continue reading
I am always irritated when a song gets ‘hijacked’ by a later cover version. There are numerous examples, but I am not going to get into that now. Take a great song that was a reasonable hit, then a ‘superstar’ records it later. Suddenly, everyone associates it with the ‘superstar … | Continue reading
I read something recently that made me very sad. It was about the increasing trend for elderly pets to be abandoned or handed in to pet shelters and rescue centres in the UK. With the spiralling cost of Vet treatments, including euthansia of very old or terminally ill pets, some … | Continue reading
When I went for my long walk to the abandoned farm last Friday, I took some photos along the way. (Clicking on the photos will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.) Beetley Meadows, still partly-flooded. The overgrown blackcurrant fields and some abandoned farm equipme … | Continue reading
This is the seventeenth part of a fiction serial, in 787 words. The bar was almost deserted that early, other than the barman behind the scratched chrome-topped bar, and an old geezer sitting at the back holding two walking canes and staring at an empty glass. Ricky ordered a bee … | Continue reading
Julie was looking through her phone last week, and sent me some photos of Ollie that I didn’t have. Happy memories of better times. By the coffee table in our living room. This was before we changed the carpet, so around 2018. In our neighbour’s house at New Year, 2004. With his … | Continue reading
I was 19 years old in 1971, and very much a ‘Soul Boy’, always in search of new Soul sounds. I bought this record the same day I heard it on the radio and I still really like it 53 years later. As I do not recall hearing another record from the vocal group The … Continue reading … | Continue reading
For anyone who doesn’t already know, we had to have Ollie put to sleep early on Tuesday morning. This post explains it. Ollie’s Last Car Ride ————————————————————————————— Because of that, my musings are only about my beloved dog this week. He died just eight days after his twelf … | Continue reading
In the field opposite the abandoned farm, some horses were grazing. Two of them came over to the fence to see me, and I pulled up some long grass to feed them. They seemed happy to be photographed, and I stroked their heads as they ate. (Clicking on the photos will take you to Fl … | Continue reading
In the summer of 2016, I went to the abandoned farm behind Gingerbread Corner and took some photos of the decaying buildings. Ever since that day, the post has been viewed regularly, and even in 2024 is still being looked at at least once every day. On Friday, I went back to see … | Continue reading
I found this image online, originally posted by a conspiracy theorist. I have to admit he has a point! | Continue reading
This is the sixteenth part of a fiction serial, in 791 words. Just outside the town of Cambridge on a country road, Ricky pulled the Toyota over to the side on the grass. There was no traffic around and he would see the headlights if anything came along. Unhitching the trailer by … | Continue reading
Yesterday morning the rain stopped, and the sun came out for a while. I hadn’t been outside of the house since 7am on Tuesday, when we got back from the Animal Hospital after Ollie was put to sleep. Partly because I was upset, partly because I didn’t want to bump into people I kn … | Continue reading
This is the fifteenth part of a fiction serial, in 738 words. Ricky headed north around the town, then took the twenty-nine going east. He was driving on instinct, and not thinking straight. One thing he knew for sure, he could never go back to Florida. And another thing he was c … | Continue reading
Jill Dennison has updated a famous short poem to reflect the situation in modern-day America. It is very accurate, and worth reading. | Continue reading
A brief perusal of my recent blog stats has shown me that I get at least twice as many views on Sundays than on any other day of the week. This was true for last Sunday, when I had the most views of any day so far this year. It makes sense really, as most … Continue reading Sunda … | Continue reading
In 1979, I heard a song on the car radio, and knew I just had to buy it. My local record shop had the album in stock, so I bought that instead of the single. It was called ‘Minute By Minute’ and was by an American band, The Doobie Brothers. I particularly liked the vocals … Conti … | Continue reading
(The two photos are from Flickr. Clicking on them will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.) Last December, I met up with a lady dog-walker I hadn’t seen for some time. She walks a loveable Whippet named Missy who is always excited to see Ollie and me over on Beetley M … | Continue reading
When it comes to making products that appeal to certain markets, designers and manufacturers let their imaginations run free. I can think of quite a few bloggers who might like to own some or all of these. Cat refrigerators. Cat Caravan. (Trailer) Cat Bed. (For humans) Cat Chair … | Continue reading
Not long before Christmas, I got the news that Ollie had cancer. Hearing that, my mind was all over the place, and I wasn’t concentrating that much on anything else. Around the same time, I received an email in my GMail account. It wasn’t marked as Spam, and was in my usual inbox … | Continue reading
The classic British telephone box is a rare sight outside of London these days. Increased use of mobile phones is making conventional phone boxes a thing of the past. So they are being removed and sold off to become collector’s items. However, many are also being repurposed, to c … | Continue reading
This is the fourteenth part of a fiction srial, in 780 words. Watching the man walking in his direction, Ricky thought he could have come from the set of any modern mafia film. There was the self-assured swagger, the shiny grey handmade suit worn with a black polo shirt, and glos … | Continue reading
In the early hours of this morning, Ollie woke us up by making some noise in the kitchen. He was breathless and panicking, and for the first time since his cancer diagnosis last December, we knew his time had come. He could not be settled, and his breathing was laboured and very … | Continue reading
This is the thirteenth part of a fiction serial, in 755 words. Still driving north on the coutry road, Ricky saw a campsite sign off to the left and took the rutted track leading to it, hoping nothing came the other way. It opened out at the end next to a small lake with a … Cont … | Continue reading
A large oven/cooker made to resemble a VW campervan won a lot of hearts last week. So I found some more items for you! (All designs and photos credited to inspiringdesigns.net) Refrigerator. Toaster. Small Oven/Grill. Blender. How about a toilet? Bathroom sink unit? Bath. Bed. If … | Continue reading