Those of you who are familiar with my rants about, and ridicule of members of our so-called “Royal Family” might guess that I would have something to say about the respect being… Read More

Yes ! .. The ‘Platinum Jubilee’ has arrived at last, and I am so excited, just like all of ‘er Maj’s other subjects who ‘worship’ those wonderful ‘r… Read More

Yes! .. It’s my birthday .. I know ! .. I can hardly believe it myself. Don’t worry, I’m not going to “bore the pants off of you” with tales about “the go… Read More

Hands up if you know what ‘NATO’ stands for and can point to Ukraine on a map of the world ? … If you can, you are probably more knowledgeable than most of those who sit o… Read More

I can hardly believe it, but I seem to be experiencing a double dose of “Schadenfreude”, because two of the most insufferable people in this country now find themselves ‘up… Read More

I hope that you will forgive me for taking a seasonal walk down ‘memory lane’, but I just remembered a post which you may find interesting and amusing. I published it for the fir… Read More

No ! … I’ve not quite given up blogging altogether. I guess that I have just “run out of steam” after all these years. The ‘targets’ for my rants remain… Read More

Yesterday was ‘The Ginger Whinger of Windsor’s 37th birthday, and I was going to send him a nice ‘Woke’ birthday card, but I forgot, as I was on my way to join all th… Read More

Although versions of this quotation have been attributed to others, it was Winston Churchill who made it popular when he said … “Americans and British are one people separated b… Read More

You may recall that in some of my previous posts I mentioned my interest in the Victorian era and the British Empire during the 19th Century, including events concerning the rule of India by… Read More

I do not wish to ‘make light’ of the terrible disasters taking place around the world at present, which are attributed to “climate change”: but, I have to point out t… Read More

Look what fell through our letter box this morning … Yes .. It was from Buckingham Palace, and it contained a greetings card from ‘er Maj congratulating us on our 60th wedding a… Read More

My wife and I are in our ‘eighties’. I’m 82 and she is eighty .. Umm ? ‘something or other’. We were educated in the 1940s and 50s. and, although we didn’… Read More

OK ! .. I know .. “He’s off again about those bloody TV historical drama series!” Well, this time it’s about the latest epic set in ancient Rome, but if you are tempt… Read More

I was never a fan of The Duke of Edinburgh, but then again, I was never a fan of any of the Windsor (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) crew. However, it is ‘right and proper’ to show respect at… Read More

I have always had an interest in the Victorian era, and in particular events during the British rule over India, both during the time of The Honourable East India Company, and later, The Bri… Read More

What happened to the pandemic ? … Today it has almost disappeared from the media after more than a year, and has, unbelievably, been replaced by “an academy award performance&rd&hell…Read More

During this latest lockdown I’ve spent a lot (maybe too much?) time in front of my TV watching a variety of recorded movies, and I have been surprised just how many times I have presse… Read More

You may recall that I have always enjoyed historical TV drama series. “Swords and sandals”, “bodice rippers” or even an old “Bible bathrobe” movie can be… Read More

Remember my visit to the local “drive-thru” on the 24th November ? Well, I visited it again yesterday for my first dose of Pfizer-COVID-19 vaccine, and so did bloody hundreds of… Read More

Last year I didn’t post my usual Christmas greeting due to being preoccupied with a major family crisis: and, this year, it hardly seems appropriate to indulge in all that “Ho! H… Read More

Ten days ago I visited a local ‘Drive-Thru’. The service was fast and friendly, but none of the staff asked .. “Do you want fries with that?” .. However I was asked f… Read More

This photograph shows my grandfather during The 1914-1918 War and I often wonder what this picture shows and when it was taken ? The men look pretty bedraggled and are dressed in an assortme… Read More

Stephen Sondheim wrote a great song .. “Send In The Clowns” .. It’s one of my favourites .. Unfortunately it now reminds me of Barmy Boris and his clueless crew, whenever I… Read More

Does this sound familiar ? .. I’m sure that it will if you watch TV and are a ‘soap’ fan, or enjoy ‘crime’ and ‘action’ series with story lines abou… Read More

As you may remember from some of my previous posts, I am a fan of historical TV drama series, and like to review both the good and the bad when it ‘takes my fancy’. Unfortunately… Read More

It’s hard to believe, but Barmy Boris and his mate Matt Han-cock-up have just come up with a way of increasing the Covid 19 infection rate ! They have introduced the ‘six person… Read More

Yes ! .. Today the local school reopened after the ‘lockdown’ and the summer break and, once again, I could enjoy watch kids arriving by scooter, skateboard and bike, followed by… Read More

I’ve just watched the final episode of the new “Perry Mason” TV series. Apart from some of the characters’ names being the same, it is nothing like the old ‘cou… Read More

I see that one of my favourite poets, Rudyard Kipling, is in the news again, because the BBC has decided that the musical version of his celebrated poem “Mandalay” is being remov… Read More

Just what we need at this traumatic time when a deadly pandemic sweeps across the world … Yes ! You guessed right … 36 new members of the House of Lords, including Boris’… Read More

Masks, face coverings, muzzles, call them what you like, the bunch of incompetent idiots running ruining this country suddenly think that they may help to protect us from the dreaded virus… Read More

I live on the North Kent coast of England, just a few minutes walk from the sea. It’s a fairly peaceful place to live and the street where I reside sees few visitors. That was until ye… Read More

During the recent protests in this country at the shocking death of a US citizen at the hands of an American police officer in the USA; it came as no surprise to me to see the amount of igno… Read More

… we ain’t going to get it ! In my post of 19th May I referred to ..  “the way that our so-called ‘leaders’ have handled matters” .. with regard to… Read More

This is how my back yard garden normally looks around this time of the year. Unfortunately, this year, it has been neglected due to self isolation and the closure of garden centres and DIY s… Read More

In a number of my previous posts I have often referred to our parliamentarians and government ministers as .. “that bunch of self-serving hypocritical slippery chancers”, and in… Read More

Today is the 75th anniversary of ‘VE Day’ (Victory in Europe). I was there, although I don’t remember much about it, as I was only six years old at the time. However… Read More

It’s ‘lockdown’ and the street where I live is deserted apart from the occasional vehicle, and these are mostly from supermarket delivery services or belong to some kind vo… Read More

I’ve just had a long conversation with my American cousin who lives in Upstate New York. We are both in our ‘eighties’ and spent much of our childhoods living in London dur… Read More

Over the years many of my posts have featured my local Sainsbury’s supermarket, so it’s nice to see that the checkout ‘girls’, the shelf stackers and the rest of the… Read More

Chapter 10 … “Well someone had to do it” ! Now each ‘watch’ had an ‘unofficial’ clerk and I was asked if I wanted to volunteer for the post as the… Read More

Chapter 9 .. “I do like to be beside the seaside”. This is a picture of me (2nd from the right) when, somehow, I found myself as one of a ‘guard of honour’ for Air Vi… Read More

Chapter 8 .. “The Russians are coming !”. The big question we all asked after completing training was .. “Where would we be posted ?” There were three or four possibl… Read More

Chapter 7 .. “Go west young man”. After a brief period of leave I found myself heading west to the county of Wiltshire and No. 3 Radio School RAF Compton Bassett, just outside th… Read More

Chapter 6 …Made it ..”all in one piece!” Every day at Wilmslow was much the same, the only entertainment being a game of snooker or darts at the NAAFI canteen, or a movie… Read More

Chapter 5 .. “Square Bashing” At the end of our brief stay at the reception unit we were informed that we would be doing our basic training at No. 4 School of Recruit Training RA… Read More

Chapter 4 .. Just a number. After a restless night we were awakend by a voice coming from the ‘Tannoy’ system wishing us “good morning” and telling us that it was &ld&hell…Read More

Chapter 3 … About to “Get some in” ! It was not until my nineteenth birthday that I at last received another brown envelope containing an enlistment notice and travel warr… Read More

Chapter Two … “Fit in Mind and Body” As I recall the medical centre was located somewhere between Catford and Eltham in South London. Anyway it was a bloody long bus ride… Read More

Chapter One     …       The Brown Envelope One of the happiest days in my life was when I left school in the summer of 1955. I was sixteen and pleased to be f… Read More

During my recent absence from the ‘blogsphere’ I resurrected an unfinished manuscript in which I recounted a young man’s experiences when serving in The Royal Air Force bac… Read More

… Well, perhaps, given time. However, despite my attention being focused on a very real family crisis, I just could not fail to notice the unprecedented amount of crap being flung at… Read More

Rangoon War Memorial In December 1941 Japanese forces invaded Burma. By March 1942, they had captured the capital city of Rangoon. Among the retreating troops was my ‘Uncle’ Arth… Read More

Although I have been taking a few weeks off from blogging, I couldn’t resist returning for a short visit to ‘air my views’, once again, on the ‘PC’ everything o… Read More

Here is a quote from a blog that I posted on 25th September 2012 about the bunch of arrogant arseho…. our elected members of parliament … …”who probably consider t… Read More

Recently, my electric cooker finally decided that it had cooked it's last 'Sunday Roast', grilled it's last fillet steak and fried it's final 'full English', so I decided to 'splash out… Read More

Having given my review of the TV series on ‘the dirty deeds in not so dirty Delhi’, I must move on to “Poldark”, another ‘load of old codswallop’ based on… Read More

I have often commented on how I do enjoy a good TV historical drama series, so I was looking forward to the latest from ITV’s .. “Beecham House” .. because I have always ha… Read More

I always try to expand my vocabulary by taking note of words, whenever I come across them, which appear to be new to the English language, no matter how ridiculous they seem to me. “Wo… Read More

If on-line archive sites such as ‘Ancestry’ are anything to go by, a great many people are interested in their family histories; and yet, when you ask someone how much they know… Read More

I’m sorry that I have not been blogging recently, but I’m sure that you will understand when I tell you that I have been absorbed, as has the rest of the world, with the arrival… Read More

OK .. I know, most English people ‘don’t do’ Saint George’s Day. However, this year I am flying the flag to celebrate that good old dragon slaying saint, wh… Read More

Talk about … “You couldn’t make it up!” … for, it seems that, ‘The Ginger Whinger of Windsor’.. AKA .. HRH Prince Harry, fears that …… Read More

Today was the day when the UK was to leave the EU, and …. …   We bloody well didn’t ! Why ? … Because those arse … people who were elected to… Read More

According to press reports …”Primary school children from the age of five are to be taught about gay and transgender relationships as part of compulsory lessons,” .. and … Read More

Today is my birthday, and it feels great to have reached “the ripe old age” of eighty. Last year, on my birthday I posted that … “I’ve just ‘Googled&rsqu&hell…Read More

I’ve just had a long telephone conversation with my American cousin who lives in Upstate New York. He is now in his eighties and, as you would expect, he is not as fit as he used to be… Read More

It’s the middle of winter … It’s below zero and freezing outside … It’s Sunday night … It’s the coldest night of the year … I&rs&hell…Read More

In a couple of weeks I will reach the ‘Big 80!’, and to mark this momentous occasion I have just received a letter from The Pension Service informing me &hell&hell…Read More

I must say that, so far, I have enjoyed watching the BBC’s production of “Les Misérables”, for as far as I can tell, it’s faithful to Victor Hugo’s… Read More

Today is the Winter Solstice when normally I would indulge myself and remember my pagan roots, trot down to the local woods, get naked with those nubile maidens as they dance… Read More

In my post of 13th June 2017, I referred to Mrs. May as .. “one of the weakest prime ministers ever” … and one …  “who is about to start B… Read More

If you are an old a regular reader of this blog, you will remember my posts about ‘supermarket zombies’, and more recently the ‘smartphone’ variety: th… Read More

I don’t often review or comment on movies in this blog, but I couldn’t resist doing so when it came to two films which I recently watched possibly ‘for the wrong reaso… Read More

The young lady on the right in this photo is my mother … … and some years ago, in a previous post, I wondered who her sad looking companion was: and now I’m pretty c… Read More

I forgot to tell you that the DVLA advised me that I now .. “satisfy the medical standards for safe driving” .. after being ‘fitted’ with my pacemaker. So, it’s… Read More

It was only last week that a very windy Windsor saw the wedding of Frightful Fergie’s  daughter Eugenie to wealthy booze salesman ‘Tequila Jack’ Brooksbank, altho… Read More

I downed my first ‘pint’ in 1955 when I was sixteen and had just started my first job. Well, actually it was only a half pint of ‘bitter’ and it was handed… Read More

When I was discharged from hospital I was informed that I should not drive for one week and that this ‘advice’ was “MANDATORY”  ! I also learned that I needed to… Read More

“I couldn’t ask for more” … Did I say that ? … Well, I certainly got a lot more. In fact I got … ….  Two paramedics. ….  One am… Read More

I’m sorry that I have not been blogging during recent days, but my old brain feels somewhat ‘scrambled’ at the moment due to me being a bit ‘poorly’… Read More

Recently I visited my local health centre (nothing serious) and parked my car in an almost empty car park. As I headed for the entrance I noticed another car arrive. The driver parking it on… Read More

It’s hard to believe, but even those “Englishmen” who “go out in the midday sun” are beginning to complain about the present heat wave. Today the temperature is… Read More

This week I have been able to celebrate two anniversaries. One is due to the fact that I have been married for 57 years: and the other is that the Royal Air Force was founded 100 years ago… Read More

I don’t know about you, but the more that I look around, the more I feel that the world has gone completely ‘bonkers’, with all those … ‘everything o… Read More

Remember my little fox cubs ?  … Well they have returned, at least one of them has … and this time it is daylight and it has grown a bit ! and ‘Robert&rsqu&hell…Read More

Not far from my home is a railway bridge. A road runs under this bridge and has a safe footpath on one side of it. On the other side is a narrow strip of slippery brick, earth and concr… Read More

The other evening I watched an interesting and evocative BBC documentary about the Everly Brothers (‘Harmonies from Heaven’). It reminded me of the late 1950’s and, in… Read More

I don’t have a very large garden, but I do like to let much of what I do have, grow fairly wild, like this corner … … as it does seem to encourage the wildlife, which mai… Read More

From time to time I have written of my encounters with those of us who are totally addicted to their smartphones. Here is the latest … Yesterday I was sitting in m… Read More

I know that I have not been around much lately, but I know that you will forgive me when you know the reason why I have neglected my blog for the last couple of weeks. I’m sure that yo… Read More

I see now that ‘The Donald’ has made friends with ‘Little Rocket Man’, he is considering polishing up his missiles and aiming them at “animal” Assad, and… Read More

I must admit that I was not surprised to read that the wording on the packaging of 90% of Easter eggs on sale this year does not include the word “Easter”. Yes, once ag… Read More

I’m not quite sure why Sir Vince Cable’s latest speech has received so much publicity, for I doubt if  most people in this country are seriously interested in this… Read More

Please remind me … This is the 21st Century isn’t it ? It’s hard to believe that it is, when you read that someone you thought of as a fairly bright ‘modern day… Read More

For days now we have had countless warnings from the weather ‘experts’ about the “Beast from the East” ! .. In other words freezing weather with heavy snow… Read More

I was searching my Sky TV movie guide, when I noticed the 1956 film ‘Safari’ was listed. It starred Victor Mature as a ‘white hunter’, and was set in Kenya durin… Read More

I’ve just ‘Googled’ today’s date to see if any significant event happened in “this sceptred isle” on this day 79 years ago … Nothing ! … Read More

As you may recall from my previous posts I have always been a fan of ‘swords and sandals’ movies and I also enjoyed all those old ‘bathrobe’… Read More