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Glossary: Avening to Birdlip

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It’s not a new book or even a new idea, but my own little book: Glossary is a diversion, hopefully not a contraflow. It’s available on Amazon, and briefly, it is a collection of Gloucestershire place names given new meanings by me. I am publishing some selected pages here over the next few weeks. If you would like a copy of the entire collection, you can find it right here on Amazon. I suppose this is my version of sharing a joke. For the uninitiated, it is a great pastime when travelling: to give new meanings to place names. Try … Continue reading Glossary: Avening to Birdlip

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I wonder why I do this sort of thing.

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I first started writing these things over 12 years ago. I’m not quite sure why, but back then I think it was simply a way of putting my cartoons and drawings in front of people, and since I took up landscape drawing and then painting, it’s been useful to me at least. I’ve got over 300 followers now, which makes me sound like a third-rate prophet. And I make no money from it either, it’s profit less. How does one measure success on this? I may have the loyal 300, but I doubt that they all bother to read my … Continue reading I wonder why I do this sort of thing.

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Why do men not do this sort of thing?

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I’ve been on two ‘art courses’, the first up in the Southern Peak District, where there’s an ‘art school’ called Bullclough. It’s run from a lovely country home in the middle of a beautiful landscape. At that one I was the only man amongst about 12 of us. So I was surrounded by charming women. Our tutor, Rachel, was enthusiastic, encouraging, knowledgeable and generally charming, getting some brilliant results out of us. Some beginners, others who’d been doing this painting thing for quite some years and me, who has been drawing for aeons, but not painting. I’ve been at it … Continue reading Why do men not do this sort of thing?

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Heidelberg, string, elastic bands, and Severnprint.

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There are several sorts of workers. Some love the job, and some can’t stand it but have to do it. I’ve always been lucky that I’ve loved my work. Not every hour of every day, but for most days it was a pleasure to work. In fact, some people thought, when I was drawing cartoons for a living, that it wasn’t really work at all. I’m not sure whether they were right. When I changed career and became a salesman, I was surrounded by people (which was a change from the lonely desk experience that drawing had become). Here are … Continue reading Heidelberg, string, elastic bands, and Severnprint.

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On the pop bus to Wembley…

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We were on our way to the Challenge Cup final of 1961. My brother John and I had managed to get a couple of tickets to the match and a lift with the Morgan’s Pop Factory down the road from where we lived in Ashton in Makerfield. Now the constituency of our Prime Minister. Never thought I’d ever be able to write that. John was a massive fan of Wigan Rugby, as we called it ( none of these silly extra names required for our team in those days and no adverts on their bums either ), which we thought … Continue reading On the pop bus to Wembley…

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Pond Maintenance and Dentistry

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Look after your mouth like you look after your pond. I have a fine dentist; she and the hygienist do a great job of looking after the few teeth I have left. There are unknowns I have recently delved into, like the scoring system for the state of the gums. I ask about the meaning of the numbers she calls out like a quiet bingo caller as she probes my mouth. I know now that a 4 is bad, 3 less so and if you get into the heady realms of 2 and 1, you’re on a winner. X was … Continue reading Pond Maintenance and Dentistry

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“Great spatial qualities“

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There were four of us students in the room and one large detective. We were there to tell him our side of the story. We were just into our twenties and in the second year of our studies at Manchester School of Art, and all four of us lived in a modest ‘flat’ on the first floor of a house in Chorlton Cum Hardy. Good friends, we shared two bedrooms, two in each room. Me and Dave, Bryan and Manfred ( real name Paul ). We’d acquired the flat through a letting agent and paid for the privilege, and once … Continue reading “Great spatial qualities“

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Warmest wishes?

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Its meant to be as friendly as possible, but is it competitive. The grading of a sign off on an email or letter is tricky. Warm wishes is very friendly, but warmest is even friendlier. So warmest is high on the list, warm, not so.Good wishes by comparison is a little strange as it seems to mean good wishes for you and me, or have i misunderstood. Yours sincerely, well, that’s ok across the board in my view. Yours truly? Nah! Truly madly silly. There’s also the matter of the intro. Dear Sir/Madam: cold and impersonal like a circular. Dear … Continue reading Warmest wishes?

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Buses and fresh trout

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It started at a bus stop just yesterday. “Have you seen the Cirencester bus?” No, I replied, but I was not looking for it. Cirencester is some miles from where we were both sitting on a handy bench opposite the Ivy: the posh restaurant at the top of Cheltenham. I would not have expected a bus to Cirencester to come this direction, as it would be going in the opposite direction, but my newfound bench-sharer assured me it did. It seems that it does a round tour of Cheltenham before setting of in the right direction. To say he was … Continue reading Buses and fresh trout

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Concrete Boats, good idea? Yes, Purton again.

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All the last posts were Purton and all taken on the same bright sunny day. I’d intended to take a sketchbook and only when I got there realised that I’d left it behind. No matter, I had the camera for a perfect photography day. Not that long ago, I used to do work for a company in Sharpness, at the docks at the very end of the Gloucester Canal. The company imports cement from Spain; apparently we don’t make cement over here much any more. It occurred to me at the time that if the boats sprang a leak they … Continue reading Concrete Boats, good idea? Yes, Purton again.