Blogs

I pretend it’s not happening until autumn is right on top of us. The unstoppable, overwhelming green tide of growth turns round and meekly disappears into the ground.

We get a fiery display as the leaves drain of green, going out in a blaze of glory. Let’s hope for more of the glowing light of September to give October that incandescent quality.

The wet, cold summer gave extraordinary growth to cool country plants, and things that need warmth suffered. Fewer insects - the cows never got besieged with flies - meant that all those insect-eating birds did not...

Sunday morning and I’ve treated myself to breakfast out. Scrambled eggs on toast, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. I am listening to my favourite songs and people watching – things I love doing. In the last 24 hours I have bought ridiculous amounts of chocolate, drunk wine and had a long soak in a bath. All telltale signs that I am not in the happiest of moods. So what has caused that? One word – football. Let me explain.

It all started with a trip to Highbury to watch Arsenal when I was a kid. I couldn’t tell you who they played, the score or who won. The vivid...

In the last few months I’ve used public transport more and more, not least to get to London in my search for a new job. For all my moans about the cost, delays and overcrowding, public transport is relatively cheap and convenient given petrol, parking and accommodation costs. However that convenience is mitigated by the experience. Or it has been for me.

I appear to have become a bit of a magnet for “unusual” people. There have been the oddly sinister incidents. I realise people fall asleep on trains and I’ve been subjected to the head falling on my shoulder etc. However, on one...

People don’t often talk about the downside of singing. A few years ago Chris Rowbury wrote something about it in his blog - http://blog.chrisrowbury.com/2011/04/why-singing-is-bad-for-you-and-7.html We know about the health and social benefits but, apart from Chris, few mention the problems.

Singing can become addictive — once you start it’s very hard to stop. It’s such an enjoyable activity that you will start noticing it everywhere and begin to take every opportunity you can to sing and even whistle (space limitations prevent a detailed description of the negative aspects of...