Author Archives: Ian

So near, and yet so far away

Posted on 24th January 2023 by Ian

In 1981, the 1960s seemed a different world. Going to the Monsters of Rock Festival in Castle Donington in August of that year, AC/DC, the band at the top of the bill, seemed as far removed from the bands that … Continue reading →

Posted in This sceptred isle | 2 Comments

A disused station

Posted on 16th January 2023 by Ian

Joining the Facebook group, ‘Disused Stations,’ I wondered what it was that prompted a fascination with former railway stations, some of which closed sixty years ago. Among my railway books, there is one with a particular capacity to revive vivid … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | Leave a comment

Paul Selby, Hamlet, and Sebastian Faulks

Posted on 14th January 2023 by Ian

It was late-September 1977 and our English A-Level class were an unprepossessing group of Sixth Form College students. Standing at the front of the room, Paul Selby, our tutor, must have felt it was going to be a challenging two … Continue reading →

Posted in Unreliable memories | 7 Comments

A teacher who feels like Owl

Posted on 8th January 2023 by Ian

I have the First Years after lunch tomorrow. Their capacity for tangential thinking seems to become magnified when lessons are in the afternoon. Yet they haven’t yet developed the skills for diversion possessed by the Year 8 students in the … Continue reading →

Posted in The stuff of daily life | Leave a comment

Saying ‘goodbye’ to Christmas

Posted on 6th January 2023 by Ian

Walking up a city street on the evening of 6th January, there had been a large white elk peering down from the top of a wall that ran beside the street.  Perhaps it was intended to be a reindeer; it … Continue reading →

Posted in The stuff of daily life | Leave a comment