A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and especially if that knowledge is taught at the bosom of the Honourable Artillery Company. Puttees had been introduced from India in 1902 and were in use within the British Army till 1938. Their calf height was then lowered till in the 1980s they were finally retired or…
I’m now in love
Load this link and then go back to this page and maybe sing along to my words in red on this 10cc classic. I'm not in loveI‘m now in loveSo don't forget itYou won’t regret itIt's just a silly phase I'm going throughIt’s been a while as we worked it outAnd just becauseAnd if you…
The virus will die
Go your own way by Fleetwood Mac You can go your own wayGo your own wayYou can call itAnother lonely dayOr you can go your own way Go and take the coward’s way outIt's not for you to brave the brick wallOr on the allocated day on a gurney strapped Not begging for redemption or…
Thoughts on Derek Mahon’s poetry using his inspirational lines
“I wake in a dark flat to the soft roar of the world” She felt warm under the sheet that was pulled up high over her head. Her breathing gave away that she was alive to the watcher. He was sitting at the end of the bed, bow-tie draped around his neck, the once white…
Trump pardons Olin
20/1/2021: President Trump has granted a full pardon to Clarence Olin Freeman. Mr. Freeman was convicted in 1965 for operating an illegal whiskey still. He received 9 months imprisonment and 5 years’ probation. He died in 2019. The fly screen was swinging on rusted hinges. The house, long abandoned and silent, was typical of the…
Would you swap a fridge for a friend?
Life and the direction that one is given, depends on the luck one makes and a determination to make ‘tomorrow a better day’, a phrase taken from Captain Tom. I moved to Somerset last spring to repair my life into the smallest house ever called The Reading Room. Originally it was built for the farm…
Dementia Diary (the end)
My mother is very near to her end now, her breathing slow and she refuses water and food. Her thyroid, devoid of medication constricts her throat and she lies on her side, shielding herself from residual pain from the hip operation though I am sure it was just patched up at her age. Her body…
Fremington 2020
Can it really be over 40 years since the Bedford 4 Tonners drew into the Fremington Adventure Training Camp. 26 potential officers in the various Foot Guard Regiments. In my thoughts it might well have been a white MOD coach loaded with the Brigade Squad 22 ready for being beasted, but the transport perhaps was…
The Black Moon
Carib Islands 1778 The plague had transformed the routine of the plantation from one of hard work, beatings and sweat to a silent and weary charnel house. The few who could move shuffled to the creek to fetch tepid water that they would mix with meal flour to make a dull grey porridge; that was…
The window in Lake Como
The window in the bedroom overlooked the town of Varenna and when the mist lifted off the lake she could see Menaggio and from there she would take the train to Dongo. This is where the war had ended and she wanted to see the fascists hanging, they who had taken away her youth, her…
