Category Archives: Personal

Abandon hope all ye that enter here III


The futility of life or trying to buy an IKEA kitchen. On our last visit to IKEA we’d been given a rather expensive quote and told we couldn’t order a thing until the ‘measuring man’ had been. Going through the … Continue reading

Posted in Bureacracy, Communication, Personal, Spain, Transport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Abandon hope all ye that enter here II – IKEA


Clutching our cut out paper kitchen we returned to the big blue that’s IKEA,; they have the same layout the world over with the room designs and assembled furniture upstairs and then the Market Place below. There’s no escape as … Continue reading

Posted in Personal, Spain, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Abandon hope all ye that enter here I


Recently we unintentionally acted on some sound property advice: always buy the cheapest house in the best street. Well not literally as it’s an apartment not a house and not in a street either but a harbour side development. Oh, … Continue reading

Posted in Personal, Spain, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Salad Days


It’s a Leo thing apparently; the trait I have of leaving some things to the last possible minute. At school even with all the holidays to do my homework, it would still be done Sunday night before term started again. … Continue reading

Posted in Britain, Childhood, Education, Nature, Personal, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Secret Diary


Until the age of seven my life was a bit of a blur; I don’t mean I can’t’ remember much, it really was blurry as I was diagnosed with myopia, severe short sightedness of minus 6. Looking through photo albums … Continue reading

Posted in Britain, Childhood, Current affairs, History, Personal, Politics, Sport, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jerez de la Frontera


As newlyweds last autumn we tried to explore Jerez de la Frontera; non-stop rain however meant that we only managed the Tio Pepe Bodega and a couple of tapas bars before soggily driving away. So a return visit was on … Continue reading

Posted in Film, History, Personal, Spain, Travel, vacation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Cork Oak


The closest many people ever get to a Cork Oak tree will be when handling a cork from a newly opened bottle of wine or removing the stopper of an olive oil bottle. It’s amazing to think that these cork … Continue reading

Posted in Education, natural world, Nature, Personal, Spain, Thoughts, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Watch out watch out


I remember getting my first bike aged 4; a red and blue machine with stabilisers. I grew out of it quickly but money was tight so I had to walk until my 8th birthday. Then I got my next one … Continue reading

Posted in Britain, Childhood, Current affairs, Education, History, Music, Personal, Politics, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

All Change


Some things seem to have been around for forever; The Queen, Steven Gerrard, Ryan Giggs, and of course old Fergie himself. I was just 20 when he first took over as manager of Manure, sorry Man Utd. Now 26 years … Continue reading

Posted in Bureacracy, Personal, Spain, Sport, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bang Bang


I have painful memories of suffering dictation at school in the late 70s and early 80s; Mrs Chowney our geography teacher was particularly fond of this cruel sport, every week she had our class listening to her monotonous drone, making … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood, Education, History, Personal, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments