A Thinking Man

I remember the sinking feeling when a former colleague spotted me on the home station and decided to sit next to me for the whole of the two and a half hour journey. He had retired about 5 years previously and although I had worked closely with him in a professional capacity, to be honest, [...]

Read Full Post »

At one point in my career I did occasional consultancy work for a company that paid First Class rail fare. Rather than travel Second Class and pocket the difference, I decided to try out the luxury.
I remember feeling young, too casual, and slightly out of place amongst the few older suits. And then, once the [...]

Read Full Post »

I can remember a dreadful journey from Norwich to Goole when I was 22.
It was my first serious job interview. I was feeling awkward and
overwhelmed. In my blind haste to get off the train and get to the
interview I opened the carriage door (it was a long time ago) and fell
several feet onto the track-side.
The [...]

Read Full Post »

I’m not quite sure what ‘normal’ is, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not it. When the roulette wheel of life flung out its genes, mine fell somewhere near the far edge of the distribution curve, not in the middle.  I am learning to live with that.  At times it has been unpleasant: at other [...]

Read Full Post »

I wasn’t there and I didn’t do it. I hadn’t even been born at the time!
For a long time I always used to associate Easter with guilt. Although family would try to stuff you with chocolate, and church would try to tell you it was joyful with antiquated, mournful melodies, it is the [...]

Read Full Post »

It doesn’t exist. It doesn’t really.
I can say that now, though earlier in my life I would agonize for weeks, months even, looking for it. Now, in my professional life I regularly see people who are looking for it. Sometimes we make a little headway and they leave partially convinced that it [...]

Read Full Post »

I listened recently to a fascinating radio broadcast where Adrian Shine was discussing how, to date, he had failed to find the mythical watery monster of Loch Ness (Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4, 18/08/07).
Two things made this conversation interesting for me and took it above the realms of the usual “the-monster-must-exist-coz-I’ve-seen-pictures” story. First, this [...]

Read Full Post »

Ted Rye (Born, August 3rd 1920. Died, March 8th 1999.)
Edwin Rye (known as Ted) was the son of a Blacksmith.
He grew up in, and around, King’s Lynn, and joined the Royal Norfolk Regiment at the start of the Second World War. However, he was soon captured and spent most of the war in various [...]

Read Full Post »

It has happened.  My wife confirmed it.  I have officially become a grumpy old man.
My defence is simply that I was listening to the local news on the television and wanted to exercise my right to challenge the officialdom that has thought it wise to spend £300,000 on a new multi-faith space at my local [...]

Read Full Post »

I was surprised by how much it affected me.
The key must have jumped ship on Thursday lunchtime. I locked the office door, walked to my car, and drove home to my afternoon job. But somehow the master-key to the building must have slipped out of my pocket as I got in the car [...]

Read Full Post »