Category Archives: The stuff of daily life

The dice were £2 for a pack of twelve in one of those stores where £2 is a lot to spend. Deciding that at least eight pairs of dice would be necessary for an ordinary class, I bought two packs. … Continue reading →

Christmas was not a big thing at the Christian school I attended on Dartmoor. Strict evangelicals, they presumably regarded Christmas with the suspicion that Puritans had shown it for centuries. They might reasonably have pointed to the fact that the … Continue reading →

When I was at university, it was forbidden to write in the first person and the expression of personal opinions would have been met with disapproval. Four decades on from the year I began undergraduate studies, it seems strange to … Continue reading →

“Two weeks until Christmas, sir.” A mood of eager anticipation seems to exist among most of the school community. One student, describing themselves as “the Grinch” complained that it was just a time when the family could fall out with … Continue reading →

Visiting Dorchester recently brought memories of the world evoked by the writing of Thomas Hardy. Hardy writes with an extraordinary eye for the detail of rural life. It is not hard to imagine the scenes he describes. In Far from … Continue reading →