Out for the day in the Cotswolds with my chum Mr Burton. He’s a keen folksinger and comes to it a little later in life. His voice now carefully modulated and resonant. Going out for a walk in the bright Cotswold countryside we both marvelled at our skills on choosing the right day ( unbroken sunshine ), the brilliant countryside we had the privilege of walking  through via the ‘right to roam’ that we have in this country, and Robin’s expert route finding that took in two excellent pubs and a tea room to finish. Apart from a gaggle of … Continue reading Singing in a landscape

In my quest for more odd names, I was recently telling my sister in law about this, my most recent “excuse to draw”. I’m in the middle of a series of drawings of people with odd names. Generally these are all made up by either myself or someone I’ve been talking to. The idea started some years ago when a work colleague who told me several names  that he’d seen whilst overseeing production of business cards. Derek, then used to come and whisper new ones to add to the collection and these were generally of his own making. I told … Continue reading What’s in a name?

I’m fond of sheds, and I tend an allotment. My favourite sheds are corrugated iron. It rots so colourfully.Yesterday we had a rare day of winter sunshine and I ventured out to the plot for a quick check on my rhubarb. My one half-succesful broccoli plant had decided to seceretly sprout some lovely heads for me to pick and I dug out some very strange looking parsnips plus one of my favourite vegetables, a celeraic. Rhubarb was slowly growing well. So the garden is producing things even in winter. I noticed that the national papers were full of headlines about … Continue reading What will they make of this in China?

We’re all selling something, some of us without really realising it. Some have made a living out of it, myself included. I was employed, later in life ( I’m quite late now ) to sell print. I loved it and I made a lot of friends and the occasional enemy. Having been a professional cartoonist for most of my ‘so-called’ adult life, it was strange to enter a world where things were serious. Unlike the very best salespeople I took with me the idea that I only wanted to work for people I liked. Which in fairness was most people.There … Continue reading You’re looking well, have you lost weight?

Linked in are chasing me to apply for even more jobs and it looks like I’ve found just the one for me, the downside is that it’s for a seamstress so there may have to be some adjustments and stitching in place before the application can go in. On the other hand I could opt for 2 days a week as a lingerie designer and spend the rest of the week in my jim jams, doing a bit of blogging and never getting out of my slippers. Nope! I’ll go for the first choice as they pay extra when they … Continue reading At last, a job where you don’t have to be able to spill.

I’ve been thinking again, perhaps I should n’t. Phones: we keep them in our pockets and if we are really up to speed we talk to them with them in our pockets via headphones and wander around seemingly talking to ourselves. Out in the supermarket or on the street we see people who are hearing voices, and it’s considered normal. In days of yore such unfortunate people were sent to large brick built institutions and filled with mind numbing drugs so that the voices might go away.They were treated kindly for the most part and pitied by the rest of … Continue reading “Just putting you through…”