December 2009
12 posts
“You’re never more than a step away from being back on the street busking....”
– Glen Hansard, The Swell Season/The Frames
Snow summit
I don’t do heights. Not normally. So when Wee Wifey and I were in North Wales this week, I was delighted the Horseshoe Pass had been closed. I wouldn’t even have to consider driving on this treacherous mountain road.
But then it was opened. And the brave part of me (which I think is located at the south-east corner deep inside my tummy button - because I can never find it) said,...
Snow house
So then it happened. One minute the roads were the usual unforgiving council grey. The next minute they were covered in Christmas fairy dust.
It was past midnight when we found out. At the time, my daughter was working at her computer upstairs, while I was writing cards at the dining table. Emily was as animated as she used to be when she was a little girl.
I’m a grumpy old so-and-so....
“He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot – but don’t let that fool...”
– Groucho Marx
Closing down
We’re living in shocking times. Household names are falling off the edge of the high street at an alarming rate.
Today I was meeting a new client in the lovely seaside town of Bournemouth. I remembered there was a big Borders shop. So I popped in just before my meeting, only to be welcomed by noisy-looking signs – boldly declaring up to 50 per cent off.
It was a closing down sale. I...
Distant skies
Since childhood I’ve always been drawn to distant skies. I was born and brought up in an industrial town. So I would look to the western horizon, beyond which were the Welsh hills, an unbroken sandy coastline and beautiful countryside.
I always wanted to go there. Still do.
I guess we all have that yearning for a new vista. A change is as good as a rest, they say. I think that’s...
Father Bob
I don’t know how I found his house, it was so dark. And the pouring rain didn’t help visibility, either. I found myself trapped in a gloomy, sleepy road, tucked behind some industrial huts, like a backlot from The X-Files.
But when I did find the place, I felt I was stumbling onto hidden, hallowed ground. To keep his true identity safe from ‘the frowns on the jugglers and the...
“I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty.”
– Groucho Marx
The day I nearly drowned
Bubbles broke the surface of the water as the breath escaped from my lungs. And I sank like a stone to the bottom of the pool.
I was quite young at the time. Young and foolish. Lacking the ability to swim – or even float – I’d thought I would try jumping in at the deep end. It was complete madness. The alarm sounded. People scrambled from their wooden benches around the pool. My dad jumped...
Long and winding
Is our cosy western culture and matching designer lifestyle in a pattern of long-term decline? It certainly feels like it.
Don’t get me wrong. I love life’s luxuries. Hot and cold running water. The occasional bag of chips. Treating myself to an old vinyl record from a charity shop. But I realise in this current climate, such a carefree, playboy-style existence cannot go on forever....