In my day it was all Denby crockery and electric toasters.
I saw a modern wedding list today, and items on it included:
USB record deck
500GB external hard disk
Energy saving lamps
Solar rock lights
Laser Cosmos mood lighting
Roomba
Lego Millennium Falcon
Bath towels
OK, so I expected the bath towels.
Like any diligent father, I take my parental responsibilities seriously. I must teach my son to read, to cross the road safely, to behave politely at the dining table, and to appreciate pop music.
I started on that last one early, as early as I could. When he was just a few weeks old, we discovered [...]
Because she is a brave, intelligent and kind-hearted woman, my friend Angela (not her real name) sometimes volunteers to work in the local night shelter for homeless people.
But Angela is a qualified first-aider, which makes her evenings there much more eventful. Over Christmas, she and her husband went to the shelter together. He sat [...]
I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
I’ve had a letter from First Direct, packed with meaningless marketing speak. It tells me that my account(s) with them will be changing soon, because apparently I’ve asked for this to happen (I haven’t). It gushes with excitement at how the changes will be good for them (because I apparently asked for them) and how [...]
As part of the town Arts Festival, Bradford on Avon’s library car park was turned into a beach for a day last weekend.
The attractions included an authentic 1930s helter skelter, which all the kids (and quite a few of the grown-ups) had a lot of fun on. Apparently there was a good view from [...]
There was consternation in the Quiet Zone carriage. First it was someone’s phone going off, which caused a chorus of tuts - but the resulting conversation was brief and didn’t annoy for too long. Then another person made a phone call, evidently trying to locate some lost property from somewhere. There were more tuts, some [...]
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning … The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us, this is the end of all the stories. And we can most truly say that they all [...]
