Film review: Shrek The Third
Many people are apparently labouring under the misapprehension – because of a generous certification – that Shrek The Third is a children’s film. It isn’t.
Dressage for fun
Prelim 7 and Prelim 14 at Bromsgrove Riding Club. From start to finish Vin was a star; ‘Mr Chilled Out’. He’s come such a long
Day 44 in the Big Brother House
One forty-one PM. Charley is in the garden with Nicky. They’re dissecting Heidegger’s principle of Phenomenology as discussed in his groundbreaking work Sein und Zeit. They
The vet’s photo session
Today I went to the veterinary practice that’s been treating Beech’s fracture. I met the veterinary surgeon who took me in to a small office
Mushy peas are excellent
You’ll probably never find mushy peas on a Michelin menu but last night they saved my bacon (euphemistically speaking). I concentrated so hard on cooking
An evening between the covers…
I need to write about last night’s book group… Have you ever been in a room with a group of people who had a common purpose?
Random thoughts…
The first round of Tapas you’re offered in Andalucia is usually pork. The Spanish have a wonderfully flexible view of what constitutes meat. Many visitors
Weekend plans…
Saturday (weather permitting) Vin and I are off to terrorise the good people of Bromsgrove Riding Club with our usual out of control exciting performance
Kill all the cows!
Kill the cows; kill them now! They’re destroying our planet. A survey has just concluded that a Landrover Discovery emits 3,500g of carbon over a
Books and Language
I’m so excited. The first batch of set texts for my OU course have just arrived. Of course, getting excited about the arrival of (plucks
Best Served Cold
a short… Slowly, slowly catchee monkey. When I was a boy my father used to say it to me. He meant ‘don’t be impulsive, play
Meanwhile, back at the ranch
Yesterday was a very equine day. Beech is bearing up fairly well to his enforced ‘imprisonment’. But he looks mighty fed up. And bored. His
Developments…
Hmm… To report them, or not report them? That really is the question. My publisher says one thing… But I think another – my professionalism
Decisions, indecisions
flash fiction Sometimes it’s a problem. Maintaining a focussed train of thought while you’re in a long, tedious… Yawn. Sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah.
Aaaarrghhhhh!
An email flutters in. Arthur Roberts, a US publisher who has a track record of being kind to me. Based on synopsis only… Would like to
A slightly damp and dusty memory
I detoured this evening. Spur of the moment, probably brought on by the hailstones. Partway en-route to Brixton I turned left on a whim. In
Settle down
Sit down somewhere quiet. Plug in your earphones – isolate yourself from the rest of the world. Take a deep, calming breath. Exhale. And listen
It is the end of the world
Lightning flashes towards the ground somewhere between my office window and The Gherkin… Thunder makes this building vibrate. The sky is dark, stormy, ominous. Yet
A slogan isn’t just for Christmas
T-shirted (and polo-shirted!) slogans. Last Wednesday the waitress in the Deli had a message for everyone. “A good girl is just a bad girl who hasn’t been
Polite notice to London cyclists…
Dear cyclist. Bless. You aren’t a superior lifeform. You aren’t invincible. You aren’t invulnerable. You aren’t particularly clever. You haven’t taken a test of competency.
It’s an endangered species you know
My pillow. listening to How to Save a Life by The Fray, by the way. I was lying on my bed, partaking of some serious
Meanwhile, over in Spain
Daughter reports… She’s going to Cadiz. Camping. To a very special water park. Is it the one where they film the children’s television programme La Banda?
Monday evening blues
The Lovely S. Down. And I can’t be there – in Worcestershire – to give her the support and comfort that she needs. This sucks.
Last night…
WTF? I woke up this morning – ten minutes before the alarm – feeling as though I’d run a hard road race yesterday. Except I
Book review: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
In many ways this is the ultimate children’s adventure: Pirates, natives, exploration, tension, scary scenes, humiliation, exhilaration, excitement, battle, peace-making, new enemies, new friends and
Food glorious food?
I just don’t get this… Müller Light Yoghurts. I can’t eat them, being a vegetarian. Because Müller Light Yoghurts contain gelatine. A yoghurt product? Containing
To the theatre…
On Thursday The Lovely S and I had an evening in the West End. A meal at Bertorolli’s followed by… Monty Python’s Spamalot! What can
The definition of purgatory is…
Shopping. In Worcester. On a Saturday. On a wet Saturday. When every chav in the county under the age of 16 is also there. With
A flying visit to the yard…
Dodging the many thunderstorms The Lovely S and I stopped off at the yard on the way back from shopping in Worcester yesterday. Unsurprisingly we
Holding out for a Hero
there’s been so much going on I’ll have to do a piece-meal catch-up We spent yesterday evening at Stafford (not Stratford!) Castle, Staffordshire. First we stopped
Five and a half hours…
No, not a title for a rude film. It’s the amount of time that it took to drive from Docklands to our home in Worcestershire
My new friend…
Dan. this is bonkers and bizarre and I probably shouldn’t have done it but I am a country boy who just stays in the Big
Why the BBC sucks (2)
clipped from the BBC News website: Many young people do not know how dangerous roads are for inexperienced motorists, a survey suggests. Some 32% thought
Why the BBC sucks (1)
Man sets himself alight at cinema More than 70 people were forced to leave a cinema in Bedford after a man set fire to himself
Not Missing Missy
This (as Eddie Izzard would say) is a true story… About a year before we met, The Lovely S and I were listening to the
Today I’ve been
Struggling: To get out of bed at 04.15 To get out of the house before 05.30 Through the occasionally heavy, squally showers To battle my
Not today you don’t
Nor tomorrow. I’d planned to school Big Vin over showjumps today. Big Vin fancied a weekend off. When I went to get him out of the
Gone shopping, slowly
It’s Friday evening so naturally I’m shopping at Morrisons, Bromsgrove. Wild party animal that I am. I’ve stopped off to have fun do the shopping
I’m an addict and I have sinned
Bloody bookshops. Shouldn’t be allowed! I now have a copy of Dick Francis’ latest paperback ‘Under Orders’ and Billy Bragg’s exploration of ‘Britishness’, ‘The Progressive
The sound of silence
The sound of silence goes like this (are you ready?)… Faintly in the distance: Meow? Nothing. Then, still faintly in the distance but coming closer:
Never can say goodbye
(1973 i think; gloria gaynor) Anyway. I finished Transport – a SciFi short story – last week. Today I’ve just decided… * that I haven’t
Dedicated to the one I love
So. I’ve been thinking. It’s your birthday on Friday 29th June and you’ve cunningly taken that day and the next off. And you’re going
The reverse Midas touch
That’s the one where everything starts out gold and gradually turns to brown, smelly stuff under your watchful eye. I’m not sure what’s gold about