The current virus pandemic is evoking lots of comparisons with WW2, at least in the U.K. Though the quantifiable loss of lives and poverty doesn’t come close, ironically the virus takes away the one thing that everyone in the 1940’s had, the ability to gain comfort in the company of others. One of the things… Continue reading Coronavirus Diary 20 – Make do and mend
Category: Funny & Humour
What a joke!
Spitting Image is back!
It was announced last week that one of my favourite television programmes when growing up is to make a return. To people of a certain age, Spitting Image was an unmissable programme with up to 15 million people tuning in to watch the current affairs of the week being re-enacted by large rubber puppets. By… Continue reading Spitting Image is back!
Coronavirus Diary 2 – Goodbyes but no good grub
Yesterday I went out to see a friend. My new house is a total dump. An absolute pig-sty as we say in the U.K. No cleaning/bathing facilities, no toilet, damp in the floors electric wires everywhere and a near 200 year collection of pipes that seem to do nothing but are there nevertheless. I decided… Continue reading Coronavirus Diary 2 – Goodbyes but no good grub
Corona Diary 1 – Crazies on a bus
Given that I am now almost housebound medically and theoretically from Monday possibly legally’ I thought I would supplement my usual posts with a series of almost diary like posts. Some people have their entire blog composed of such things and I thought given my rather unique situation then I may as well while a… Continue reading Corona Diary 1 – Crazies on a bus
A piss-poor history of urine
I’m going to try not to use the P word too much in this post, as tempting as it is as that would be taking the Pee but urine has actually had a long history of practical uses especially in medicine. None other than Pliny the Elder back in Rome recommended fresh urine for the… Continue reading A piss-poor history of urine
Changing with the tide – how newspapers reported Napoleon’s march on Paris
I was doing a bit of research on some French related history and the following made me smile so I thought I would share it. I don’t often write on French history (except for WW1 or my trips to Paris) because there are people who are so much more knowledgeable than myself. However I thought… Continue reading Changing with the tide – how newspapers reported Napoleon’s march on Paris
American perceptions on Britain from tourists.
Working with tourists every day, I often find out that they have some interesting observations or preconceptions about what it is like both in London and the rest of the U.K. Here are a collection of very common comments that I hear on a regular basis with some slightly snide replies from myself! * Almost… Continue reading American perceptions on Britain from tourists.
When two (spaces) are better than one
I don’t know about you but there are countless things that annoy me about modern life and one of them is the slow decline into the use of a single space after a full stop or period. Until the early twentieth century, guidelines were numerous and often contradictory. There were a variety of space… Continue reading When two (spaces) are better than one
National Sickie Day – Good and stupid reasons to take a day off work.
According to national statistics the first Monday in February is the day when people are most likely to pull a sickie. One of the factors attributed to this is the first payday since Christmas, meaning people have been out celebrating all weekend with a particularly heavy one. Another theory is that people have a tendency… Continue reading National Sickie Day – Good and stupid reasons to take a day off work.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry
The internet is always full of cat videos and cat memes and I thought I would try to raise the bar a little by bringing up the marvellous poem by Christopher Smart, a poet and mystic who led an eventful life at a time when religion and science were competing for the greatest minds in… Continue reading For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry
Stephen Liddell 