Ahem No sooner had Gwen arrived back from York than we drove together to the supermarket for her to buy tons of sugar, vegan butter, chocolate, and other ingredients to add to the loads she had already brought to bake her vegan chocolate brownies. Her first days here were spent in labour-intensive and kitchen-hogging mixing, […]
Category Archives: 2020
2025 Ahem
FOODELICIOUS WASHBOARD BELEAGURED: November 2025
Ahem, Richard and Marie, from Cholsey in Oxfordshire, where Alli and I lived just after [...]
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01
Dec
Dec
2025 Ahem
HYENA FUNGI HALLOWEEN: October 2025
Ahem There is a village close to the Toleza Farm in Malawi that goes by [...]
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01
Nov
Nov
2025 Ahem
SPIRITUAL CONTINGENT GONGS: September 2025
Ahem As August turned to September, I was with my Kiwi friends Ramon and Colleen [...]
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01
Oct
Oct
2025 Ahem
WIT THEODOLITE JAMS: August 2025
Ahem August was a very fruitful month. Raspberries and blackberries, plums and greengages, even rosehips [...]
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30
Aug
Aug
2025 Ahem
CRANE RAMPION BUCOLIC: July 2025
Ahem A proper summer seemed to unfold and express itself haltingly from the first few [...]
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01
Aug
Aug
02
Dec
Dec
Ahem With a month of rain interrupted by intermittent leafy days daubed in autumnal gold, our no-go November evensong was spent in devotions, incantations, rapture and scripture; also known as reading, writing, watching TV; and listening to the relentless patter on the windows and the rustle of oak and beech leaves whenever we opened the […]
01
Nov
Nov
Ahem They’re out to get me. Wherever I go these days outside the UK I am not only followed but somehow expected (and not in a good way). I arrive to find that everything is about to close because it’s suddenly a Covid-19 hot spot. My arrival simply confirms the new restrictions like an inspired […]
02
Oct
Oct
Ahem The month started when families were still getting used to cautious re-uniting; when the popular view was that the virus was mostly beaten; that young people were unfathomably immortal; and that everything was back to normal apart from crowds (unless at raves, parliamentary meetings of Tory MPs, grouse-shooting parties, fox-hunting possees or Trump rallies), […]
01
Sep
Sep
Ahem Fresh blackberries were aplenty (try saying that five times very quickly) in the fields around the house; sweet and edible at least three weeks earlier in the month in mid-Sussex than I recall even thirty years ago in Oxfordshire. The best flavoured blackberries are nudged, not pushed nor pulled, off their stalks. Our tomatoes […]
02
Aug
Aug
Ahem While many unlocked themselves and stumbled up and out, blinking rapidly into the modern minefield of crowded pubs, clubs, beaches, fast food outlets and other metaphors of normal life, we celebrated ‘super Saturday’ with a cautious, almost prim maiden trip across the county border to Surrey to see our friends Paul and Elise for […]
01
Jul
Jul
Ahem We have seen our daughters together thrice this month, the first time with their partners Jurrat and Sam, when Alli, Gwen and I drove to meet them all in Tooting Bec Common in south London. Relaxed, informal, friendly, the tooting common welcomed us to a spot near the shade of an oak tree at […]
01
Jun
Jun
Ahem Jessie’s 29th birthday was celebrated on Europe Day with great success and aplomb. The 9th May is a very ‘international’ and upbeat day. It also celebrates 25 years of Austria in the European Union, 70 years since the Schuman Declaration, 75 years of the United Nations, the 250th birthday of Beethoven, and national windmill […]
02
May
May
Ahem The reduction of nearly all UK news down to updates on Covid 19 and Conservative Party propaganda confirms the state of UK politics as even worse than that depicted in ‘The thick of it’, a golden oldie of a series which I occasionally watch with Jessie and Ella on a group Netflix platform each […]
31
Mar
Mar
Ahem, The comedy highlight of a month already replete with unintentional comedy and tragedy foretold could be found on stage at the back of the Southern Belle pub in Brighton. This is where my friend Peter made his UK debut as a stand-up comedian with a hilarious routine about his relationship with the human resources […]
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