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), […]
Tag Archives: Ella
2026 Ahem
BLANKETS ORAL PONTOON: July 2026
Ahem, Ella and Sam gave a party at their new house to celebrate their move [...]
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01
Aug
Aug
Get Righting
Get Righting!
Everyone’s got a story to tell. Are you telling yours? No? Then GET RIGHTING! GET [...]
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16
Jul
Jul
A History of Love and Loss Novel
A First-Novel Blog: False Finishes
A new blog about writing a novel and getting it published On the sixth day [...]
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11
Jul
Jul
2026 Ahem
TRESTLE RESERVOIR BUMP: June 2026
Ahem, June began dank and damp, with a succession of rainy days that sapped the [...]
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03
Jul
Jul
2026 Ahem
PEAGE PINTXOS BANISTER: May 2026
Ahem, I travelled down to La Hune with Jurrat and Jessie in a well-loaded car [...]
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01
Jun
Jun
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 […]
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 […]