Category Archives: The stuff of daily life

Bread and butter

Salt, mustard, vinegar, pepper, French almond rock. Bread and butter for your supper, That’s all mother’s got. The words of the skipping song surfaced in my memory. Perhaps primary school was the last time I heard it sung. Of course, … Continue reading

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Dead man’s handle

The rain relented and the grass had dried sufficiently to allow for an attempt to cut it. For years, the garden would have been attacked with a rotary mower that had a 325 cc Briggs and Stratton engine. It was … Continue reading

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Burying Max

In thirty years of parish minisry there were people about whom I came to be increasingly cynical and others who remained a constant cause for admiration, among the latter were gravediggers. A fascination with gravediggers probably began with reading William … Continue reading

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Searching for Private Martin

After decades of speculative stories, I finally found documentary evidence. The International Committee of the Red Cross have prisoner of war records from the First World War online, half a million files of information. At last, I had found Uncle … Continue reading

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Meeting Sergeant Luxton

Albert Luxton died five years before I was born. When I was young, the 74 years of his life seemed to represent reasonable longevity, now he seems a man whose life was too short. He is a man I should … Continue reading

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