Skate, Raspberries and Clotted Cream

The first leg of the journey (7 and half hours) was pretty good. Three seats all to myself and not a screaming child in ear-shot. I slept most of the way.

I’ve been trying to replace my little ear-phones for a while. They are not available in Oz, but they have been sold at Changi airport for several years – not any more… Why don’t I buy these things when they are available? I never learn!
Continue reading “Skate, Raspberries and Clotted Cream”

Waiting for Clarkson (Jan C/W)

Those deck chairs were a waste of time. There we were sitting out all night to be first in the queue for signed copies of Jeremy Clarkson’s new book, eating our packed lunches, chasing away scavenging foxes and arguing with late-night revellers as they mocked us on the way past.
“Where are your sunglasses?”
“The Germans are up early as usual”.
Now it was two in the afternoon and we were still the only two people to have turned up at W.H.Smith’s so far. We were standing at the back of the shop in front of an empty desk set up for the promotion; we had folded the deck chairs and placed them in front of Louise Doughty’s books; I don’t know anyone that would ever read that heap of compost. At least in an hour’s time the great man was scheduled to appear. Continue reading “Waiting for Clarkson (Jan C/W)”

January 2012 Short Story, Marking Time.

Marking time

Margot had found it rather comforting, after the turmoil of the previous few days, to lie awake in the dark, waiting in the pause before the weighty inevitability of the funeral. It had been restless night: her sleep interspersed with vivid dreams and it was pitch black when she woke, no light yet edging in around the curtains.  Once awake she had just lain there inert, but acutely alert, with every cell of her body tuned into the emptiness beside her in the large double bed. Eventually she had reached out into the chill air for the light, and peered at the clock. Not yet five.

Continue reading “January 2012 Short Story, Marking Time.”

Marking Time – January 2012 CW Comp.

Marking Time

Len Larcombe, teacher of Chemistry and fifth form master sat at a small desk in the staff room of the provincial public school. It was the spring of 1928 and Larcombe was almost forty years old, ten years before he had been a captain of artillery and ten before that an amateur boxer of some note. His service in the war and in the ring had left him somewhat deaf in both of his large somewhat battered ears. He settled himself into the wooden chair and lit his pipe, pushing the glowing embers deep into the bowl with a calloused and nicotine stained forefinger.

Continue reading “Marking Time – January 2012 CW Comp.”

Mystified Marxist Mouse

I have recently been involved in an interesting discussion Elsewhere on the subject of Cultural Marxism and the Frankfurt School. Simplistically, Political Marxism morphed into Cultural Marxism from there to Political Correctness and Multiculturalism. Thus Marxism is responsible for all the ills of the Western World today.

But that is just the background. I have made mention on this site that I studied history, and I was intrigued by the views of Marxist Historians. Very simply, it was a way of looking at historical events which gave more importance to underlying socio-economic factors.

Continue reading “Mystified Marxist Mouse”

Mainly for Sipu – a loose end tied up

On another post Sipu used a quote which I was unable to source on Google – “Avast, no more these Scottish monarchs we’ll adore”. He was good enough to give me the title of the book from which it came and Amazon did the rest.

‘Kings and Queens’ has duly arrived. 1983 edition with a foreword by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The last monarch pomed is her daughter.

The quote comes from ‘James II’ and not ‘William and Mary.’ Continue reading “Mainly for Sipu – a loose end tied up”

Costa Concordia

Oh alright. somebody had to do it (and thank you Zen)

I went and bought a ticket for the Costa Concordia lotto. What’s to lose? It was a rollover last week.

Seriously now, it appears that ‘class actions’ for damages are now imminent, which is not surprising bearing in mind that the parent company is apparently ‘Me-ri-can. Frankly, I’m surprised the lawyers weren’t camping out in the lifeboats in the first place and I’m astonished it took them so long to surface….as it were.  However, my point is, is such an accident (for that is what it was notwithstanding the actions of the captain and crew) worth 100,000 dollars in ‘compensation’ for anyone who survived the discomfort of sitting in a lifeboat for ten minutes and millions for the relatives of those who didn’t, or is it just the get-rich-quick culture pursuing sod’s law for gains? Discuss.

OZ