I’m lounging unceremoniously on an arm chair in my mother’s dining room as I pen this prose. Outside’s solar rays producing a Super Trouper like beam, highlighting the recently unkempt lawn and borders which for weather or health reasons I’ve neglected for the last two weeks. I’ve one eye on a corner of the room where a catchup broadcast of ‘Countryfile’ plays out on TV. My other eye is on […]
This time tomorrow I’ll be Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) in situ undergoing an exploratory angiogram procedure. A followup op to an investigative treadmill stress test I underwent a couple of months ago. That being said, I’m not overly daunted that in twenty four hours time my radial artery will be punctured to allow a camera to examine the highways and byways around my coronary arteries. Why should I be?….. I […]
“I’m glad you found it…… It’s awful when you can’t find a book!” A well-meaning, yet idiosyncratic comment relayed last week by Mrs Strachan senior on hearing I’d managed to acquire a thus far elusive copy of the book ‘celebrating’ TV magazine show Sunday Brunch. The above tome standing at number three on my son Jonathon’s birthday wish list. The holy grail I’d sought for two weeks; a search not […]
It was the Eurovision Song Contest last Saturday evening. A smorgasbord of sing-song which in recent decades has allowed European nations (and recently our Australian cousins) their annual opportunity to humiliate the less creative end of the UK’s song writing industry. I’d like to think our continental cousin’s motives are deeply ingrained envy, born from a fact that over the last century Grande-Bretagne has kicked their collective asses in the […]
As I write I’m sitting in the entrance waiting room of Leeds General Infirmary’s (LGI) Jubilee Wing. Accompanied by my wife Karen, yours truly indulges in the addictive pastime of people watching. The ‘entertainment’ provided by scores of individuals oblivious to my surreptitious surveillance techniques – Some plying their trade within the chambers of this mighty hospital; others congregating to take advantage of the NHS’s hospitality. Shortly I’ll be undergoing […]
Alec Thompson’s banty eggs were frequent visitors to the 1970s/80’s Strachan kitchen table in Dorchester Gardens, Low Fell. Not just physically, in the shape of an omelette or cake ingredient, but also as a catalyst to meal time banter surrounding the culinary splendour of truly fresh produce. I didn’t know Gateshead man Alec personally but my mum was a friend of his wife, who for anonymity purposes I’ll call Linda […]
Post-heart attack I’ve unsurprisingly striven to avoid situations that’ll raise my blood pressure. Consequently, I’m currently staying clear of listening to/watching Leeds United games, listening to/watching Leeds Rhino rugby league matches, exposure to England Test crickets encounters and (apart from writing) numerous other avenues of pleasure. I’m also attempting to stay clear of my wife Karen’s well-meaning but unreliable diagnosing of any occasional twinge or ailments I experience. Fleeting afflictions […]
