Ahem A lot of things happened on Mayday, as they should. In medieval England, it was one of the biggest, most popular and least controversial holidays of the year, the focus of a week of ribaldry, licence and lust, when the rural working class (90% of the population) got drunk for days on fermented beer, […]
Tag Archives: Jurrat
2026 Ahem
PEAGE PINTXOS BANISTER: May 2026
Ahem, I travelled down to La Hune with Jurrat and Jessie in a well-loaded car [...]
Continue reading
01
Jun
Jun
2026 Ahem
MUSKETS SHRIFT RAPT: April 2026
Ahem Alli and I were up and early on Good Friday to be driven with [...]
Continue reading
30
Apr
Apr
Professional Writing Writing
They awoke…
The hidden past of the bisexual pronoun Those of all political and cultural persuasions [...]
Continue reading
2026 Ahem
BABY FAIRYLAND TWITTEN: March 2026
Ahem I was about to open a pile of birthday cards when I was encouraged [...]
Continue reading
30
Mar
Mar
2026 Ahem
QUOTIDIAN HAMMERHEAD HIPPO: February 2026
Ahem Rain and colder weather in southern England dominated the first few days of the [...]
Continue reading
02
Mar
Mar
01
May
May
Ahem Easter gave us an opportunity to use the garden for a childish grown-up family Easter Egg hunt and to see Jessie, Jurrat, Ella, Sam, and celebrity Rottweiler Maisie. I got accused of indolence in laying the chocolate eggs on behalf of the Easter rarebit as too many of them were found close to the […]
03
Apr
Apr
Ahem We’ve been thinking of renting a cottage on the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear. But it might well be. Alli nearly booked a place in Bembridge on the south east coast a couple of months ago. However, we held back as the owner would not return deposits to renters once they […]
28
Feb
Feb
Ahem The extreme weather in the first half of the month kept us all more hibernated even than usual. The dogs were keen to take shorter walks in blinding blizzards. Despite wearing her coat, Bonnie, who has no body fat, was shivering so much on some occasions that I was worried that she might never […]
01
Jan
Jan
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]