Ahem, During this interminably long month of heaving weather, our far south-east corner, ancestral home of the south Saxons, has led a charmed life, picking its way through and near the triple storms, snow, frosts, floods, driving rain, and sidewinding winds. For much of the month, charcoal clouds scudded with dark purpose across Birdineye Hill […]
Tag Archives: Andrew
2026 Ahem
SCUDDED PROPRIETORIALLY TRIMMINGS: January 2026
Ahem, During this interminably long month of heaving weather, our far south-east corner, ancestral home [...]
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02
Feb
Feb
2025 Ahem
QUERYING PAKKELEG CONVULSED: December 2025
Ahem Our Christmas celebrations normally start after we celebrate Gwen’s birthday on the 12th, when [...]
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01
Jan
Jan
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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Oct
Oct
30
Aug
Aug
Ahem August was a very fruitful month. Raspberries and blackberries, plums and greengages, even rosehips and sloes suddenly made a massive and early appearance in the hedges and byways along which I walk Max. There were reports from Burgess Hill of previously uncharted bushes within hedges suddenly producing rare and delicious plums. August was also […]
03
May
May
Ahem Just before the beginning of the month I flew to Malaga from where I took a bus to Marbella. I put my small but heavy bag into a property deposit box at the bus station before walking slowly down towards the Mediterranean coast, glittering under a perfect blue sky. I was excited but apprehensive […]
30
Mar
Mar
Ahem The Malawi weather improved considerably in the first week and by the time of our departure the farm was experiencing some classic crop-growing weather: a couple of hours of determined rain and several hours of sun each day. On our last night we finally managed to witness a sundowner – watching the sun go […]
02
Aug
Aug
Ahem, The simple scoreline did not truly reflect the embroiled imbroglio of the football match. It was a game of two halves: the post and bar were each rattled; there were fouls, handballs, swallow dives, hospital passes, and theatrical agony all over the pitch; six players were booked; two were sent off; two goals disallowed, […]
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Apr
Apr
Ahem, Muttley was one of my childhood heroes (along with Rolf Harris). As an infant TV-watcher, I thought Muttley was a philosophical genius; he could summarise all relevant social discourse into three cardinal responses: a chronic wheezy snigger; a frustrated oath-laden mutter grumble; and impatient agreement by rapid head-nodding while rasping “yeh-yeh-yeh, yeh-yeh-yeh”. It inspires […]
05
Mar
Mar
Ahem, On the ninth day of the month, I travelled to meet my sister-in-law Julia and her long-time friend Christine at Heathrow to spend the rest of the month with them at the Toleza farm near Balaka in Malawi. Hitches, snafus, and hassles from previous similar journeys were much reduced, and we were driven to […]
01
Mar
Mar
Ahem, Alli and I went to Brussels on the Eurostar from St Pancras to visit our friends Laurence and Claude and to celebrate Laurence’s 60th birthday with their son Corentin, daughter Ambre, and a large group of mutual friends, many of whom have been constant, close, and regular companions for nearly fifty years. It is […]
01
Nov
Nov
Ahem The month featured a lot of wind-sweeping wettish rain, streaming curtain-sleeves large and long. However, at the start of the month, haunting traces of summer hung on desperately rather like liver spots on hands, or an unwanted ex-colleague trying to re-connect even as I laced my bootstraps, felt in pockets for my gloves, and […]
30
Oct
Oct
Ahem So they want to make me go to rehab, I said yeah yeah yeah? The NHS has answered my enquiry from last year about how to resolve an increasingly painful lower back, and sent me for some sessions at a weekly course called Rehab Gym taking place locally in Haywards Heath, the all-time national […]
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