They f%$% you up, your mum and dad
So wrote Philip Larkin. I blog to make sense of all the noise. And there is more noise than ever. This blog is just more noise, I know. My noise. [...]
In Sickness and Health, in New Earswick
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of one of my best friends. The ceremony was in York, with the wedding reception at the New Earswick Folk Hall, [...]
New dictionary word: “Phillip-Allott-ed”
Verb (transitive) To be “Phillip-Allott-ed” is a four-staged test. First, during a stream of consciousness, you brain-dump your most bizarre, innermost thoughts, at the most insensitive of times, in full [...]
Living Adventurously, in Settle
Typing this blog on my phone, in Settle Quaker Meeting House, North Yorkshire, I can hear an English language lesson taking place, one on one, in the room above. The [...]
Live on BBC Radio: Resigned to No Resignation
Here in North Yorkshire our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is Phillip Allott, a Conservative. Until the last few days, almost nobody in this area knew his name. That’s not [...]
Buy a Generator, Just in Case
Political nerds like me are fascinated with Dominic Cummings. So interested, in fact, that I pay him a monthly fee to read his excellent newsletter. I know: I have just [...]
Dysautonomia 2: The Sequel
When your daughter theoretically starts to design the colour scheme for my custom-made electric wheelchair (I have not ordered one, for clarity), to enable me to attend her dance performance, [...]
On Wasps, On CBT, On Oxbridge, On Change
As a six-year-old, I had a crush on a classmate. I’ll refer to her as ‘S’. One pleasant summer’s day, our family went on a walk, along a former railway [...]
Comment Piece in The Yorkshire Post
With the children returning to school on 7 September, The Yorkshire Post published my blog, originally entitled "Carpe Diem, Gavin Williamson" in reference to the Government's introduction of Latin. The [...]
Up and Out in Middlesmoor and The Dales
Thankfully and inexplicably, for a few days now, my health returned, almost back to normal. But how long it will last, I don’t know. So, let’s enjoy it whilst I [...]