Monthly Archives: December 2020

Auld Lang Syne is a dirge

Scotland is a long way from Somerset. Fifty years ago, it was even further away. The journey by road or rail could take many hours, and no-one ordinary flew anywhere. It would have been easier to travel to France, travelling … Continue reading

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Going up from Somerset

Forty years ago, on 31st December 1980, I went to London. It took us four hours from mid-Somerset to the tube station at Acton in west London. Four lifts were needed and it took longer than it might have done, … Continue reading

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Missed records

From a distance of more than forty years, it is a mystery how I came by the catalogue. I didn’t read any music magazines, so it would not have come as a free insert (if such things existed in the … Continue reading

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The tastes of Christmas past

If the EU did anything for Britain, the cheap food made possible through the Common Agricultural Policy meant things once luxuries became part of everyday consumption. Christmas was once a time when there were things to eat that might appear only once … Continue reading

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A Nazi uncle

He was not an uncle, but as my grandmother’s cousin had somehow acquired such a status. A fussy, effete man, he would advise my grandmother when he and his wife would be coming to visit her, and expect my grandmother … Continue reading

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