Author Archives: Ian

Down the line

Posted on 7th July 2024 by Ian

Upton.  It is a hamlet that once had a railway station.  Long Sutton and Pitney, the station was called.  It was convenient to neither village and there were probably travellers who were less than happy to find themselves 2-3 miles … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | 1 Comment

Summer in Beare

Posted on 1st July 2024 by Ian

It is the fifth week of the school holidays for Irish secondary schools, depending on the school in which one teaches, there now remain six or seven weeks. To be honest, a return to the routine and laughter of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | 2 Comments

Our late member

Posted on 30th June 2024 by Ian

Were I not resident in Ireland, I might be a prime target for Tory canvassers.  A Financial Times subscriber who teaches in a private girls’ school and who paid for the public school education of his own children, I should be … Continue reading →

Posted in This sceptred isle | 3 Comments

Change for the worse

Posted on 28th June 2024 by Ian

Do you remember Z–Cars? It was my favourite television programme when I was a child. In my (faulty) memory, there were Constables Roach and Bannerman in the main car and Quilley in the panda car. Back at the station, Sergeant … Continue reading →

Posted in Unreliable memories | 3 Comments

Swans in the rushes

Posted on 22nd June 2024 by Ian

Walking with  my sister and her dogs along Aller Drove on Sedgemoor, a hissing noise told us we were drawing too close to swans and cygnets. ‘Did I tell you the tale of the swan and the taxidermist? My sister … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | 1 Comment