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Growing up in Australia in the 80s we only had about 5 flavours of crisps. And, of course, we called them chips. Plain, Chicken, Salt & Vinegar, Cheese & Onion, and BBQ. And there were really only 2 brands to choose from – Samboy Chips, and Smith’s Chips. The packet colours were: Dark Blue –…
I’ve got something of a fixation with plumbing interfaces. Growing up I became fairly accustomed to the standard arrangement of hot/cold shower and bath taps, or in the case of the 2nd bathroom at Mum & Dad’s place, an extra knob to open the channel to the shower head or from the tap spout. Intuitive,…
My Dad passed away on November 7th following a short and fairly unexpected battle with cancer. We had his funeral on Friday the 14th and though we’re all sad that he’s gone, everyone’s been saying that they thought it was a beautiful and celebratory service for a generous and warm man, and it’s only a…
Saturday September 6th 2014 was an important day. I was away at Maltstock in The Netherlands (one of the best whisky festivals on the planet), but my mind was frequently on a little back-street pub in Clerkenwell – The Gunmakers. For on that day was the farewell party of Jeff, the landlord, having sold the…
I may have mentioned in passing (17 or 18 times) that this year I’ve been involved in the Movember charity cause… So this year’s goal for me was to try to collect £1000 in donations, and to up the stakes a bit and encourage people into donating (because this is the 8th year in a…
There’s a chap in South Australia by the name of Ryan (pictured – yes, he’s just a floating head), who I’ve known since I was about 4 years old, and who is a bit of an expert at putting words next to each other. Recently he posted the following stuff on Facebook, and I thought…
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Y’know sometimes when you do something which is just straight-out cool, and you know you’re gonna remember for the rest of your life? Well, that! I read on the HIGHLY EXCELLENT “Ian Visits” blog that it’s possible to arrange to take a tour of the Clock Tower at the Houses of Parliament, and that…
Recently somebody asked me how I got into morris dancing. Well, I recognise a decent opportunity for a blog post when I see one…
Tolerance is a beautiful and commendable thing. There should be more of it – if there were I’m sure the world would be a better place. However we’re never going to reach such an ideal & placid utopian existence so long as the British Government fail to send out teams of exterminators to rid to…
Whooooa boy oh boy oh boy – what a way to go, eh ? In order to get rid of my fairly extensive collection of Scotch, I decided to get a few people who have a deep & moving love for the stuff around to my place, as well as a few choice nibbles, and…