“It could go either way” and other such horrors of “sportspeak”.

A surfeit of Sportage has brought in a word shortage. What with cricket, a sport that takes days and can easily end in a draw, as well as a huge amount of tennis and now women’s football there has been a massive eruption of cliches. “This can go either way” has been used tirelessly when in fact ‘it’ can go only one way, with the exception of cricket where the phrase: ” a draw might be on the cards’ may well be dropped, as often as a catch. Try explaining cricket to anyone unfamiliar with the game, and you could … Continue reading “It could go either way” and other such horrors of “sportspeak”.

Northern Soul in a former Museum?

A trip into Gloucester to the Folk, what was formerly the Folk Museum, but is now just “the Folk” with most of the Museum displays removed. It’s a sort of rebranding that seems to say “ we like the building, but we don’t know what to do with it”. They have events and volunteers coming from all directions who are hugely enthusiastic and friendly and will tell you all about the place. And they have events, on Saturday afternoon they had a couple of Northern Soul enthusiasts with their dj deck and massive speakers blasting out some brilliant Northern Soul … Continue reading Northern Soul in a former Museum?

The Finest Tudor Facade in the Country

An afternoon out in Gloucester, first to take a look at what they have been doing to this very narrow alleyway in the centre of the city. An amazing piece of restoration. I’ve known of this building for many years and it fell into disrepair some years ago. At last someone has done something about it and what a superb job. There’s hardly room to swing a cat around this very narrow alley, but look up and the magnificent frontage of this building is there for all to see. Here’s what they say about it: It’s just a few doors … Continue reading The Finest Tudor Facade in the Country

First find your dongle…

What we do for information these days is a measure of how far we have come. I’m not going to call them good old days as they simple were n’t, but back ‘then’ new equipment came with an instruction book, which all God fearing men used to ignore completely until the thingy was done and it did not seem to work. The arrogance of knowing how to put stuff together was something I was born with, just as well they never let me construct anything that carried people, like a car or a plane. Dongle had a different meaning back … Continue reading First find your dongle…

Pie Chi and Fettling: A short introductory illustrated Guide to the Wigan Form of the Art.

Ear are tinstructions fot First form uv Wigan Pie Chi. Translation from the above is: Here are the instructions for the first form of Wigan Pie Chi, a North West of England form of the art where the tongue stays firmly in the cheek. Fettling is local parlance for fixing stuff, and these excersizes will fettle you. Enjoy. The passing of the pie ( Passin tut pie ) Stand with arms by your side, knees slightly bent, head up straight as if looking over someone’s shoulder at a Rugby league match. You should be wearing a shell suit or something … Continue reading Pie Chi and Fettling: A short introductory illustrated Guide to the Wigan Form of the Art.

So British to talk about the weather.

So perhaps we might give it a rest as our present weather seems to stay the same every day. Hours of unbroken sunshine every day has been the recent norm. Recent Norm sounds not unlike a nickname that you get on an early American TV Sitcom. He’d have had a catchphrase that would be adopted by the public, or at least that public that watched TV, which unlike these days was a large percentage. Remember “What do you think of it so far?” the answer: “Rubbish!”. A catch phrase that only people of a certain age would understand these days … Continue reading So British to talk about the weather.

Dark chocolate and a baguette.

My mother gave me a fruitcake to give to the French. She’d arranged the trip for me with a friend who worked at the local girl’s grammar school. I was to be the only boy amongst thirty 16 year old schoolgirls going on a French exchange to Paris. Sounded reasonable to me, I might learn a thing or two. I did and it wasn’t all French. To put this in context I was a boarder at the local all boy’s grammar school. My contact with any girls at all was minimal. Our school did no such sort of exchange with … Continue reading Dark chocolate and a baguette.

… and a six foot Italian Tawny Owl.

I’m on a plane as I write, so this is a risk, as is all travelling. On my way to Italy on a walking holiday and this small section of writing may well be lost as I’m doing it on the plane with no internet, so rather depending on the local hardware. I’m not a natural at travelling that is, in fact I’ve been one the reluctant traveller of late, seeing no glamour in it whatsoever. We took the bus to Heathrow and that was only ok in retrospect. The fact that we had seats helped, but there’s something very … Continue reading … and a six foot Italian Tawny Owl.

Edit: Warmth?

I took a trip to London yesterday to meet with old college friends. We all went to what was then Manchester School of Art, when many thing seemed to be in black and white. Getting the photo up of us (I’m behind the camera on my phone) into the edit mode of my iPad now, I knew I’d have to lighten up the image a tad but there’s one feature in the editing suite that simply says warmth. There was more warmth in the occasion than I can possibly relate here. Our aim, if there was a ‘brief’ , was … Continue reading Edit: Warmth?