John Maxwell Edmonds won’t be too familiar a name to most people. Despite this, some of the English classicist’s compositions will be instantly recognisable to millions around the world. In particular around this time of year, when we remember our fallen in worldwide services of remembrance. The Stroud born poet is celebrated for his moving and thought provoking epitaphs. Amongst his more famous work he is attributed with the widely […]
In the early 1970’s, every evening at about 6pm my siblings and me would hear the words “It’s time for bed!” It was an authoritative almost regimental order barked from a head perched on a spring loaded torso. To clarify, neither of our parents were the source of this command. I can honestly say I’ve never seen either of them relying on spring power to aid their mobility around the […]
Midday, 17th September 2016. Two guys sit in an automobile on the driveway of a semi-detached house in a Bedfordshire town. Their plan to utilise Saturday’s free time embarking on a journey back in time. Unlike a fresh faced Marty McFly and eccentric elderly scientist Doc Brown in the movie Back to The Future, the two ‘partners in crime’ were a couple of middle aged blokes ensconced in an Audi TT, […]
Today, I sought topic inspiration for this blog by asking my diminutive spouse to tell me the first thing that entered her head; informing her I would use what she replied with as the subject of the narrative aujourd’hui. To my surprise she responded “The neurophysiological pathology and clinical advancements of stem cell science.” Karen can be a real dark horse at times. I’ll be honest and admit I would have expected a response like […]
Hospital visits a plenty this week for my significant other. Yesterday saw her undergo a blood test; while today we shall spend an hour or so, on the hottest September day in the UK for 50 years, bathing in the strip lighting glow of an oncology unit waiting room. The strip lights are far less of a skin cancer risk than the fluorescent tubes of a sun bed, however I suspect the tanning […]
Portobello Road, Portobello Road. Street where the riches of ages are stowed. Anything and everything a chap can unload is bought off a barrow on Portobello Road…….. So sang actor David Tomlinson’s character (Emelius Browne) in Disney’s 1960’s movie ‘Bednobs and Broomsticks’. I thought of this song yesterday as I walked around Spitalfields Market in London’s East End. As with Portobello Road, scores of stalls displayed numerous items and artefacts […]
I’ve just returned back to a sun drenched Casa Strachiona after a thankfully brief shopping trip with Karen. Our presence at an out of town shopping centre was at the request of my Geordie consort, with the express desire to acquire greetings cards for up and coming family occasions. So on a beautiful summer morning we braved Bank Holiday traffic and the throng of would be consumers to purchase five cards; the earliest […]
