Monthly Archives: April 2023

Beltane in Glastonbury

Posted on 29th April 2023 by Ian

On Monday, it will be the first day of May, a bank holiday Monday The last time May Day fell on  Monday, a trip to Glastonbury brought an encounter with a large crowd gathered to mark the pagan festival of … Continue reading →

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Foreign voices

Posted on 25th April 2023 by Ian

‘Where are you from, sir?’ I have given up saying that I have lived thirty-six of the last forty years of my life in Ireland. ‘England,’ I said. ‘Where in England?’ ‘Somerset,’ I said. Except when I was back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | 4 Comments

Cost the Earth Day

Posted on 22nd April 2023 by Ian

Earth Day? More like Cost the Earth Day. It’s about taxes and more taxes. If I drove around the country in a Toyota Hiace van that had a broken back light, and leaked oil so much that pressing on the … Continue reading →

Posted in This sceptred isle | 3 Comments

I would like a pink polka-dot bra

Posted on 17th April 2023 by Ian

The summer holidays are just seven weeks away. On Saturday, 3rd June, I shall sail for Cherbourg: a week touring the battlefields of the Western Front (with Juno Beach in Normandy and Dunkirk added to the First World War sites). … Continue reading →

Posted in Unreliable memories | 2 Comments

A puddy place

Posted on 12th April 2023 by Ian

Supper at the Podymore Inn gave the opportunity to read a reproduction of a 1791 history of the parish. PUDDIMORE-MILTON is a parish situated in a flat marshy country (whence the name) on the east side of the Fosse-road, two … Continue reading →

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