Category Archives: Uncategorized

(First Gig) Most days I sit down at the blank screen without any pre conceptions. I just type, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes (I hope) it’s thoughtful, sometimes I rage… but, I just had this conversation on nightshift where I was impelled to tell a story from long ago, and it occurs to me that thereContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(pensive mood on)* There have been times when I watched more TV – I grew up in a house where telly was almanac, news, enertainment, source of strife, and font of laughter. There have been times when I watched no TV at all – several years in bedsits where, there simply was no screen (!).Continue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(musical). Unusually, we went out to enjoy some live music last weekend. We caught one half of a “big band” (think Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra/ Glen Miller. Youngsters willl need to google). This was the soundtrack of my childhood, that, and big musical shows (Sinatra, Ella, Bing, Roger and Hammerstein….). Real Music! says aContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(white powder) My older boy has just turned 20 this week, which makes it twenty years since I stopped smoking. I was a solid, “pack -of-rolling-baccy-a-day” man, and I’d tried giving up numerous times. This had mostly taught me how not to do it, when the time came. Not for me – only when I’mContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(gifts) For anyone actually interested, a petrol tank is now(finally) enroute from darkest Slovakia. It may even be the correct one. We will see. You will probably read it here if not.. A reach out to Susan, who very kindly offered to orchestrate my birthday celebrations. Thank you, but NO. You will be my guest,Continue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(Petrol) My dad was very fond of saying, “if you own a car ,you’re never done putting your hand in your pocket.” My last car, was eventually sold on (part exchange) due to a punctured petrol tank – punctured on the top, go figure! – which was, as they say, an uneconomic repair. Therefore IContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(Celebration) It seems I just get less and less able to adapt to the trials of nightshift. Where once I could sleep in a proverbial shopping trolly in the middle of a roundabout, now I am wakened by the sound of a passing cyclist while the windows are tight shut. Of course by the finalContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(Top shelf) My elder son unusually came to discuss lifes “direction”, and of course the conversation that ensued had anything but. Sorry, but this Dad rambles if you let him. Nathan is a creative in outlook and temperament, and while I have written the odd verse, I have been too long surrounded by those withContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(language) We seldom think about how fortunate we are to have English as our mother tongue, the first second language of the world. Infintely mutable, and stealing vocabulary from around the globe, and a complete cesspool of irregular verbs (what’s an irregular verb?, most native speakers will ask {younger viewers will likely ask, what’s aContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”

(Dark) The timetable says I was off yesterday, but in fact, I worked, which, after several days off, made it a Monday, hence I’m writing today, not yesterday… if that makes any sense. WordPress have apparently taken my annual dues off me again (seriously? another year? already?) so I guess I’ll just have to keepContinue reading “It’s a Dog’s Life…”