Category Archives: Out and about

“What is the point of teaching people about things like ox-bow lakes and not teaching them about important things like ethics?” I did not like to argue. Ethics is indeed important, but shouldn’t people also learn about the environment that … Continue reading →

Dying in 2014, he fell two years short of his hundredth birthday. Right until the end his mind was as sharp as ever, reflective, analytical, principled. A regular soldier, he had joined the British army in 1937 and had served … Continue reading →

His name came up in a telephone call with an old school friend. Trying to recall those from Somerset who had attended the small school in Devon to which we had been sent, I remembered the boy had come from … Continue reading →

On the A38 road between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, there is a pub called The Odessa Inn. Gloucestershire is thousands of from the Black Sea and the pub is at a remove from Gloucester, which once had docks, so why has … Continue reading →

My colleague is a Northern Soul fan who is growing tired of Northern Soul fans. The music, he still enjoys. Some of the fans are a dogmatic group of purists who insist only their own definitions of what constitutes “Northern … Continue reading →