It was at some point back in Covid times that Husband and I got hooked on Midsomer Murders. If you're not familiar with this British TV series, it's a police procedural, set in the beautiful (and occasionally blood-soaked) English countryside in the mythical county of Midsomer. There are close to 200 episodes of this drama… Continue reading Things I learned from Midsomer Murders
Category: Observation
Ice ice baby
It looks easy when you see it on TV. You saw Torvill and Dean win their Olympic gold medal. You imagine how lovely it will be to go ice skating, to glide smoothly across the ice, just like those professionals who had been training for years. In reality, you haven’t skated for 15 years. You… Continue reading Ice ice baby
Singing and signing
I get amused by simple things. Things like how easy it is to change context by mixing up the letters in sign and sing. Spellcheck won’t save you if you get this wrong. I smile when I read that international dignitaries are coming to sing an agreement. I picture serious people in a room, and… Continue reading Singing and signing
Update
A few random thoughts from recent days. The warm late summer weather has been switched off sharply, plunging us into autumn. Part of me is looking forward to the snuggliness of autumn: comfort food, crisp days, walks in the forest with the leaves changing colour. But I forget that I don’t live in the fictional… Continue reading Update
Late summer
UK weather has been off this summer. We had a few weeks of good summer weather at the start of June and then it all got a bit sh!t. Canary Wharf pier But here we are in September and we are having a heatwave. In fact today, 7 September, may be the hottest day of… Continue reading Late summer
The King is Dead
Last month we entered a period of mourning for the passing of the King of our household, our much beloved cat, Manny. Kingly There is a cat-shaped hole in the house, and every room is full of cat-shaped memories. He would sometimes sleep in the bed between us, his little furry body generating more heat… Continue reading The King is Dead
Mr Forty Percent
“The government are going to sack 40% of airport staff,” he declared. “It’s inefficiencies like this, a waste of time.” He and I were just two of a number of people waiting on the other side of airport security for our bags to come through. Airport security is no-one’s favourite part of travel, but you… Continue reading Mr Forty Percent
Hidden
I was in conversation with one of the brightest, sharpest and more driven people in my department. "Some days," I said, "I feel like I'm only just hanging on." "I feel like that some days too," she said. "I think most people feel like that." I was surprised. If I'd been asked to pick someone… Continue reading Hidden
“Is that your glove?”
I was grateful to the woman who stopped me as I was getting off the train. My glove was indeed lying in the floor of the train carriage where I’d dropped it. Who knows how many near misses I’ve had with these gloves over the years. I bought these gloves at a market in Moscow… Continue reading “Is that your glove?”
Cold
London doesn’t cope well with properly cold weather. You would think, being a European capital, that the city would have some degree of familiarity with how to behave in the cold. But it doesn’t. Examples: * when it snows, drivers have no idea how to drive anymore. Cars are abandoned at the side of the… Continue reading Cold
Tales from Tobhamhor 