The Sincerest For Of Poetry
Apprenticed To My Mother
Walking Into Trouble
Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle
The Last Will Of Sven Andersen
Booms And Busts
Buster & Moo
Salisbury Square
My Father and Other Liars
Life In A Conversation
Life, in a Grain of Sand
Life In A Flash
Category Archives: memoires
When the grandmothers came to stay (Part Two)
In part one, here, I talked about my father’s mother, Nana. Time to look at her rival, my mother’s mother, my Gran, and the unlikely role she played in extending Nana’s mortal coil. If Nana was passive, old and psychosomatically … Continue reading
Posted in families, memoires, miscellany
Tagged Caterham, Cider with Rosie, grandparents, Herne Bay, Laurie Lee
35 Comments
When the grandmothers came to stay (Part One)…
In Laurie Lee’s classic novel about growing up in Gloucestershire soon after the First World War, Cider with Rosie, he includes two characters – Granny Trill and Granny Wallon. These two formidable old women war with each other and do all … Continue reading
Posted in families, memoires, miscellany
Tagged Caterham, Cider with Rosie, grandparents, Herne Bay, Laurie Lee
22 Comments
Quotes and trees
This covers two prompts, both by Colleen at Silver Threading: Writer’s Quote Wednesday and Christmas trees from around the world – this being Surrey circa 1967 And then there was the time I took the fairy on the tree to … Continue reading
Trafalgar day
I was slowly coming to this morning and some burbling correspondent on the radio said it was Trafalgar Day. This celebrates Nelson’s victory in 1805 at the eponymous battle when there seems to have been a fair bit of man … Continue reading
International Rescue (South London) branch
Good things come in threes, right? That’s the myth, or legend or old wive’s tale or whatever. On Wednesday the front doorbell went – well, the doorbell went, we only have one. Our next door neighbour stood there, demure and … Continue reading
Posted in dogs, family, gardens, home, memoires, miscellany
Tagged breaking and entering, garden, home, threes
35 Comments
lacrymose or runny nose
Today is the tenth anniversary of the London Tube and Bus bombings. A short while ago Sherri Matthews made me think about grief and grieving with her post on the tunnels in Jersey that were built by slave labour during … Continue reading
Posted in families, family, memoires, miscellany
Tagged 7/7, Jersey under the Jackboot, Love Actually, memories
27 Comments
Rule bending beauty
Last Week I found myself heading for a meeting. It was important. The Youth Club I work for has joined a consortium that aims to provide targeted help to young people in our borough who use alcohol and drugs, … Continue reading
Posted in Art Deco, memoires, miscellany
Tagged alcohol, Coin Street protests, drugs, Fares Fair, Ken Livingstone, Oxo tower
23 Comments
Richard (Richie) Benaud: 6th October 1930 to 10th April 2015
A hero of mine died today. An Australian cricketer and, most important for me, commentator. When I discovered cricket in 1968 Richie was already one of the voices of cricket on BBC T V. His style of letting the picture … Continue reading
Brixton: a place of continuity and change
One thing I adore about living in London is that I’m connected here by family links going back over at least 120 years. And I’m even more connected to the small grubby part of South London around Brixton. When I … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, London, memoires, miscellany, sculpture
Tagged Avenue street lights, bon marche brixton, Brixton, electric avenue, lambeth, London, riots 12011, riots 1981, riots 1985, sus laws, Vivienne Westwood
22 Comments
What I learnt from the Olympics
I once aspired to be an Olympian. Never going to happen but the nearest I came was when I spent the best part of four years (spread over six) helping in a small way with the London 2012 Games … Continue reading
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