The clock ticked past midnight half an hour ago. I’m not so much playing the “stay up late to avoid the arrival of tomorrow” game, as much as “trying to fit too much into today”. I’m bad at it. Why can’t the weekend be longer? It’s been a day. While my other half went to […] | Continue reading

In a moment of madness this evening I crossed the blogging streams in a manner that Peter Venkman would have been proud. My personal blog has re-surfaced on both Tumblr and WordPress, after an absence that stretched on for far too long. I’m not entirely sure if it’s a good idea o … | Continue reading

Here we are again. I started writing at lunchtime – it’s now nearly midnight. I’m sitting in the dark of the junk room on my own – I think the rest of the family have already gone to bed. One thing after another has either distracted or diverted me all day. Work and home have […] | Continue reading

I think I’ve figured Facebook out at last. It seems the main point of it is to scroll until you find something you don’t agree with, then reply as aggressively as possible, presuming everybody that might read what you have written shares your opinion. Some people have already fig … | Continue reading

A collection of incendiary thoughts have been ticking away at the back of my mind like an unexploded bomb for the last few weeks. Rather than let them sit there, festering, I thought I might write them down. Explore them a little. Poke them with a stick. Where to start? It seems … | Continue reading

I’m not entirely sure where the weekend has gone. I had plans to touch base with friends, to go for a run, to buy some music – to do so many things. I did nothing. Actually that’s not entirely true – I accompanied my other half to several garden centres (we now have a huge […] | Continue reading

While the sun fought to break through the clouds this morning we pulled our walking clothes on, threw the boots and coats in the back of the car, and set off along the edge of Bassenthwaite towards Sale Fell – a circular walk around a number of picturesque hills giving views in a … | Continue reading

For the last year or so I’ve been following the idea that it’s better to take your writing to potential readers, rather than try to bring them to your writing. With that in mind, I created mirrors of my personal blog at WordPress and Tumblr and cross posted entries into them. I t … | Continue reading

Somehow the entire evening has vanished from beneath me. I’m not quite sure how that happens. I won’t lie. I’m struggling at the moment. It used to be so easy – this writing lark. And then it wasn’t any more. It hasn’t been for a while. The words are not coming easily. I know the … | Continue reading

A message from a friend struck home today – encouraging me to stop trying so damn hard. To stop trying to spin so many plates all the time. To stop trying to be everywhere, doing everything, all the time. She was right of course – she invariably is. A whispered voice of reason, a … | Continue reading

It’s early on Sunday evening, and I just sat down in the junk room with a glass of wine. Somehow several days have passed since the last post – not sure how. I used to write regularly – like clockwork – almost every day. Not so much any more, it seems. I have an empty […] | Continue reading

I took the day off yesterday, and invested some time in our eldest daughter – who hasn’t had the best time in recent weeks and months. We wandered into town together, visited a bookshop, and had lunch in a café. I picked up a couple of books that whispered to me while noodling ar … | Continue reading

I’m not doing so well at the “almost daily” part of this blogging lark any more. “Every few days” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “almost daily”. Full disclosure – back in the mid 2000s somebody else used the name “Almost Daily” for their video blog. Amanda Congdon. Now … | Continue reading

Apparently the army of corporate professionals (read: marketers) that use LinkedIn as their personal playground to spam each other with advertorial and inspirational nonsense — think sausage machine eating it’s own output — are complaining that people are starting to use LinkedIn … | Continue reading

It’s always interesting – the day after a party – piecing together the memories of the night before. The laughter, the stories, the friends, the music, and the many moments that stay with us. So that party finally happened. A combined 18th for our youngest, a late 18th for our mi … | Continue reading

While busy minding my own business yesterday evening, an email arrived in my in-box notifying me that “Substack Notes” had been unleashed on the world. I had read about it a couple of days previously – apparently Elon Musk had something of a hissy fit – making noises about bannin … | Continue reading

I used to write almost every day. I’m not quite sure what happened. Perhaps life happened. It’s a funny thing – life – isn’t it. John Lennon is famously supposed to have said “life is what happens while you’re making other plans”. I think he was probably right. I’m never definite … | Continue reading

Several days have slipped past since I wrote anything of consequence. Once again I find myself sitting in the dark of the junk room, propped in front of the computer – tapping into the keyboard. The clock is ticking towards midnight again. We’re one day away from a four day weeke … | Continue reading

Somehow it’s almost 1am on Friday night (or should that be Saturday morning?). Where does the time go? I’m struggling to cast my mind back over the last few days – to find anything of interest. Life has been a bit like that recently – dragging myself from one day to the next, and … | Continue reading

It’s Monday afternoon and you find me on the train – sitting at Plymouth station, in the south west of England. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes – heading towards London, and home. Before getting there I have two more trains to connect with – this is the second. Fingers crossed. … | Continue reading

It’s been a bit of a day. I left the house at half past nine this morning with enough clothes packed for a long weekend and made my way to the railway station. To begin with everything went wonderfully – with quiet trains making their way from station to station without too much … | Continue reading

While sitting at the dinner table this evening our youngest daughter came up with best excuse I’ve ever heard for why she couldn’t help her sisters with something: “I’ve got busy plans” It’s perhaps worth pointing out that she goes to a special school – and that while she may not … | Continue reading

Somehow we’re all in bed several hours earlier than usual. Everybody else is sound asleep. I’m sitting in bed, laptop propped on my lap, tapping quietly away at the keys while listening to nice tunes in my ears. I can only see the keys via light cast from the screen. Thankfully I … | Continue reading

We very nearly had some snow yesterday afternoon. A few flakes fell from the sky, and immediately polarised everybody that noticed – filling them with glee or dread. I might have murmured “it won’t settle” – and I was right. While news from the more northerly parts of the UK brea … | Continue reading