w/e 20 September 2026 With the sun continuing to beam warmth and light, I made the most of a low tide by taking a dip in the warm sea. It was delicious and as life affirming as always. There was a lot of last minute preparation and a fair few rough nights before …
w/e 13 September 2026
The heat has gone... Summer seems to have disappeared as swiftly as it appeared last May. The extreme heat has abruptly given way to cooler, fresher days needing a cardigan. The days are still relatively warm; it is the drop of so many degrees that make them seem cool. Our bodies have not adjusted …
It’s a different world
w/e 16 August Times have indeed changed. I have just read a Facebook comment that ‘My little girl is wanting a birthday party for her 6th birthday but doesn’t want to go to the local sports centre as she’s been to so many there already.’ Oh my word, my friends and I at that …
Sherwood Observatory
Report of visit to Sherwood Observatory 27 July 2026 On arrival we were warmly welcomed by the staff and volunteers. After having our tickets checked, we looked at the exhibits outside the planetarium. These included reference to a local engineer who had made some spectroscopic equipment for a certain Sir Norman Lockyer. There was a …
Derbyshire Days
The drive to Derbyshire for a family wedding reinforced my view of travelling. Driving is no longer as fun as it used to be. Larger cars, heavy traffic, roadworks, bridges being built to connect who knows where to who knows what, the speed of traffic, the difficulties of navigating in a new area all combined …
Art, angst, and some fun!
It’s relentless. And exhausting. First we had 10 months of chilly rain, then a heatwave, then a cold spell, before wave after wave of heat. Having spent Monday recovering from the weekend, I then spent Wednesday recovering from Tuesday. Sadly, I had to go to a funeral of a friend which sparked memories of times …
Strawberries and Cream
The week began with a conundrum. My shopping came to £11.33 and I handed the cashier (an unsmiling young lad) a £20 note. The change was handed to me…£12. Mmmm I asked for the receipt which he also scrutinised but evidently floored by it. I gently suggested that £9 was the change and looked at …
Heatwaves past and present
Memories of ’76 are all around this week and indeed for the coming weeks, with temperatures up in the 30s, just like that long ago summer. Although this heatwave is short, the heat of ’76 lasted for weeks, with water shortages, Saharan dust, great music – it was the year of ‘Under the Moon of …
Warming up…
The week ended on a note of excitement as I picked a presentable amount of strawberries after a garden tidy session. After a struggle for survival, quite a few of the plants have not only survived the blistering sunshine followed by Biblical deluges, but have woken up to produce fruit in the recent more …
w/e 31 May 2026
A lot of hot air The heatwave continued relentlessly, punctuated by the inevitable downpour and clap of thunder. We just about made it from our car to a friend’s garden, all thoughts of a stroll and a picnic vapourised by the heat. British homes and bodies are not designed for sudden changes to high …
