Where Has My Steep Garden Gone?
The steep garden might’ve died, the lawn with white clover may have sunk out of sight. These are tired times, the seasons don’t stick to their promised arrivals, the snowdrops…
The modern cave-dweller
I’ve never been a great fan of central heating. A cold house is a grey, unhappy place, but somehow the ambient, uniform warmth you get from radiators and thermostats is…
A Witch-Finger Stick
Using a witch-finger stick to plant beans around a tee-pee. She must have eaten thousands of runner beans. She still prods the earth around a cart-wheel like the queen of…
April fool
I fondly remember the occasion, in a previous place of employment, when we posted a news story on our website claiming that a new Muppets feature film was being produced.…
The end of the adventure
In a rather exciting development, a poet friend of mine, Mattias Thomas, has agreed to give me a poem each week to put up on this blog. A small circle…
Terra Nova
Today marks 100 years since the last entry in Robert Falcon Scott’s diary. I was talking to my friend C yesterday and we both agreed that, the more you see…
Signs of spring #2
Apart from the floral signs of spring, there are also other indications that warmer weather is on the way, including the annual phenomenon known as Tit Monday. Every year, my…
Signs of spring #1
I’m always surprised by how quickly spring comes on. It’s not quite the explosion of life that you find in countries further north, but even so. One week it’s cold…
Skills for life
A colleague came over asking the editorial team, both of whom had been scouts, if we could help her to roll and tie a scout neckerchief. The days of the…
Chikan
Seen my cookstrips before? Here’s the latest one. I quite enjoy doing these, so if you happen to know a good recipe that I could draw up then do send…
