I’ve been living in the UK for 13 years, and only now is Halloween starting to get the attention it so rightly deserves. When I first arrived in this country, there was an oblivious-ness. Oh yeah, Halloween – that’s something you Yanks do, right? Then there was the sneering acknowledgement: Halloween – dreadful commercialism and [...]
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I’ve missed out on a lot of fads in my day, I had the kind of parents who never indulged me in the purchase of friendship bracelets, legwarmers, OshKosh overalls (except when some ridiculous kelly green ones went on sale…why do you think they were on sale?), Sony Walkmans, boomboxes, or a car made in [...]
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From an oral history I took with my grandfather. When I first went to the University of Tennessee [1935-36?], I didn’t know how to dance and they had mixers where they had boys and girls would come and learn to dance and learn to meet each other. Maybe I already knew how to dance then, [...]
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This is a story from a cousin of a cousin (who may or may not be a cousin of mine) that I saw on Facebook. Do you have to be from Middle Tennessee to appreciate it? Mister and I portrayed Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Ryman (as in the famous Ryman Auditorium) in a historical cemetery [...]
Categories: tickled me fancy |
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On Monday night I defied some kind of nasty stomach lurgie passed on to me ever so kindly by my toddler son to present at an IDeA fringe event at the Standards Board Annual Assembly in Birmingham on social media in local government (quick, quick overview) and my sense of how to avoid trouble online. [...]
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Tags: councillors, social media, standards | No Comments »
Some lucky year Barack Ombama’s having, first the US Presidency and then the Nobel Peace Prize. Sweet. Did he deserve it? No. He hasn’t done anything yet. Should he accept it? Yes. What can you do “No, I spit on your silly prize. I spit on peace. Spplshttzss!” -0- It’s good that Obama won the [...]
Categories: current events commentary |
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When I first started this blog…ages ago…I used to do a regular piece called Friday Funday, the lighter side of local government, which was pretty much usually published on Fridays. I was always afraid that my posts about graffiti or council silliness over ‘elf n’ safety would get me into trouble some day, but [...]
Categories: FridayFunday |
Tags: councilllors, efficiency, friday funday, glum councillors, recession | No Comments »
Just as Eve knew, forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. The apple trees at RHS Wisley don’t provide the knowledge of good and evil, but for many their fruits are absolutely irresistable. We often go to Wisley to enjoy the beautiful gardens, including the extensive apple orchards. Beautiful during Spring, in Autumn the boughs heavy laden [...]
Categories: Family fun, growing things |
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It’s always amazed me how great works, like the Mayan cities or the glories that were Egypt or the grandeurs that were Rome can be abandoned, left behind. What happened exactly that people would walk away from magnificent buildings and complex societies and indoor plumbing (who walks away from indoor plumbing?) to live in state [...]
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Tags: Detroit, local government, planning, USA | 1 Comment »
Yesterday out of the corner of my eye I saw this Evening Standard teaser board and my first thought, crazy thought, I know…was “license-to-kill” James Bond parakeets, ‘cos that would be cool. But I knew without looking up the story that this was the declaration of open season on London’s growing population of feral green [...]
Categories: current events commentary |
Tags: cull, goose, London, parakeet, photo | 1 Comment »
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