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: Gwen
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
01
Jan
Jan
Ahem Our Christmas celebrations normally start after we celebrate Gwen’s birthday on the 12th, when this year the family met at the Bonsai restaurant in Brighton for a vegan meal so good that even Alli was singing its praises. She and I arrived early and had a drink on Baker Street at the friendly Mitre […]
01
Dec
Dec
Ahem, Richard and Marie, from Cholsey in Oxfordshire, where Alli and I lived just after we got married, came to see us for a weekend. It was wonderful to see them after so many years (around 30). We walked around Sheffield Park, looking preternaturally multi-coloured in the wintry sunlight at the height of its autumn […]
29
Jun
Jun
Ahem The weather, previously sunny, had suddenly turned windy and wet as I took the coach for Heathrow to get the flight to Malawi. Was this a harbinger of the following fortnight? Well yes, it was. At the Toleza farm it was cool, windy, and cloudy enough to merit the lighting of a fire in […]
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 […]
31
Dec
Dec
Ahem Our Christmas celebrations are different to those of ten and more years ago. Now in our third age, we no longer go to pantomimes but to shows that would once have been fringe but are now mainstream, while the old mainstream is now nostalgia. This year I went with Alli, Jessie, Ella, and Sam […]
01
Dec
Dec
Ahem November’s weather became a lugubrious national talking point with deified weather presenters being lambasted for reporting what amounted to ‘gloomy’ weather. Grey clouds weighed down on southern England like the cover on a pressure cooker, but I wasn’t complaining. However, I did re-read Baudelaire’s Spleen, possibly the greatest poem ever on the multifarious subject […]
31
Aug
Aug
Ahem Ella and Sam were formally wed on 24th August in Wadhurst Castle in East Sussex, a glorious culmination of many months of diligence and planning by the couple, aided by close friends and sisters. They designed and organised most of the event themselves after choosing the venue and catering. It was also the confirmation […]
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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Jul
Jul
The uncertain weather continued during the first half of the month, ruining the plans of charities, open days, village fetes, Prime Ministerial speeches, cricket, concerts, and other flummery activities. The British weather’s main characteristic is that rain is always imminent, as John Lennon had noted. The phrase “Flaming June” implies that the month traditionally brings […]