Speaking to an Egyptian on a Sunday evening.

My phone and internet provider have changed the landline. It’s now not a landline. Old tech is being phased out. Calls on my landline now come via the internet. It’s progress of a sort I commented to the charming Egyptian woman who was helping me sort out what to plug in where. “From now on” she said, “if you lose the internet you will not be able to make a call over the landline”. In effect I said, I no longer have a landline. After a while getting nowhere she then re-programmed my internet router, and now the phone works … Continue reading Speaking to an Egyptian on a Sunday evening.

Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character

A quick aside from my musings on Greece and our trip to Spetses. I’m working towards an Exhibition in August here in Cheltenham of drawings that go under the title of “The British Character”. This project was inspired by the finding of a small book that I found in a charity shop by the same name which had an intro by the late Alan Coren – now there was a funny man.The drawings in this book are by Pont, who’s real name was Graham Laidler. Mr Laidler was one of the country’s leading cartoonists in the late 1930’s and had … Continue reading Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character

“If I were you I would n’t start from here”

So goes the alleged first line of directions to a driver in Ireland. Now I’ve been to Ireland and the only time I got directions was from a taxi driver in Dublin when trying to find my way to a particular street where awaited a bed and breakfast for myself and family. As I got back into the car my other half asked me what he’d suggested. “I have absolutely no idea what he said to me his accent was so thick, but he did smile a lot giving the impression that the place would be hard to find” As … Continue reading “If I were you I would n’t start from here”