Life with cats, and other things…
1649/26th January 2025 . Muffin's thyroid medication needed ordering, which prompted one of the phone calls that always astonishes me by its brevity. 56 seconds to be precise. . That amount of time is usually expended on back and forth greetings: "Hello, how are you?" "I'm fine and you?" etc. . That's if you are … Continue reading Stuck
10th October 2024 . The bedside lamp illuminated my clock which advised that it was ten to six, so I switched off and turned over, only to hear, in the same instant, the man clattering upstairs with his feline entourage. "Stay snuggy!" he called gaily, as if such a thing was remotely possible once the … Continue reading Dark mornings
1105/21st August 2024 . The verifiably oldest person in the world died recently at age 117. Glancing at the article brought my attention to the fact that the verifiably oldest person ever was someone I once knew. . At my age, you assume your teachers are all long gone but I had learned recently that … Continue reading Why ask me?
1503/29th March 2024 A hacking cough recently persuaded me to seek further help from the Ear, Nose and Throat department. Previous visits having led nowhere, I agreed to allow the Gastroenterology folk to investigate the next segment of the troublesome pipe. . Digestive Health, as they are also called, are not my favourite set. I … Continue reading A bad end
1946/29th March 2024 "There's not a single egg in this Easter basket!" "It's not an Easter basket, Dee Dee." "And cats don't get Easter eggs." . As a kid, before we went abroad, I looked forward to Easter because we always got a Cadbury's chocolate egg that was filled with more chocolates. There was also … Continue reading Bunnies
29th November 2023 Lonesome trees always draw my attention. Maybe for the same reason that I am drawn to abandoned or mistreated animals and downtrodden people. . As far back as I can remember, I always wanted everybody to be happy. Quite often we travelled around London on the underground and when we sat facing … Continue reading Smiley
1848/22nd September 2022 Good memories and bad , in my experience anyway, are often intertwined. It had never occurred to me until this morning. We have one of those fine Fall days of scattered cloud and warm sunny intervals with just the hint of a chill in the blustery wind. A perfect day to attend … Continue reading Home?
Out looking at fresh snow Boxing Day 2020 Not knowing quite how to spend the the hours, yesterday, I thought back to a long-ago Christmas and decided to write about it. This is how it turned out: Toward the end of 1959, my father got word of a new posting from his employer, UNESCO. At … Continue reading A Christmas story
The Long Bridge, Bideford, North Devon After arriving "home" in the Spring of 1962, for a brief time, the family was reunited. My parents remained in England for a few months before my father took up a new posting in Laos. They rented a small flat in Richmond, a rather pleasant borough of London that … Continue reading To the West Country
Stella Maris, where I lived for 2 years, up in the draughty top floor The next episode of my educational odyssey took me back to England, somewhat to my disgust. Considering the problems I had encountered being at boarding school in Asia, you would think I ought to have been relieved to go back to … Continue reading Stella Maris