We are in sheep country and the farmer thinks walkers need shepherding. Or, does he think sheep can read? Oddly enough, the path seemed obvious, to humans, at least. It dropped through woods once [...]

Ah, ivy! A friend and a foe to gardeners I believe. There is some truth in that. If you need to cut ivy then you must wear safety glasses and a dust mask. The dust it releases goes straight to [...]

I sat at the dining table and stared at my toast. There was only one and a half slices; one half was missing. It struck me that I might have missed that half, might have left it in the toaster. I [...]

Horticulture and global warming in Britain are rarely considered together. Horticulture is a dirty word these days, as are all jobs that utilise the land. However, it has a long history in [...]

I had not given ancient myths too much thought until I read Gaia Vince’s bestseller called Transcendence. This complex read concentrated on how prehistoric humans see the world through [...]

Gardening is a sensuous hobby because it is all about fertility. Consequently, if we gardeners are not spawning vegetables and fruit then we are growing flowers. Success feeds the senses, not the [...]

You cannot imagine how vindicated I feel. A recent article in the Guardian featured research on the various artifacts found in Bronze Age graves throughout Britain. Their findings suggested that [...]

Deliveries of food and goods in Friars Cliff was entirely carbon free. They were delivered in relative silence and in clean air. However, that was because the river and sea were the highways and [...]

I needed some seed potatoes and could only buy 20 earlies, called Rocket, on the internet. The internet reviews were pretty bad; tasteless and bland was the summary. However, beggars cannot be [...]

My ears proved really functional in Poundland the other day. The fact that they stick out was key. Yes, it was putting on the mask to enter the shop. That mask sat firmly over my nose and mouth [...]

The garden is a joy on these warm balmy days. It is quiet too, and I look to the skies. However, although many people must see the gulls flying over Friars Cliff, few give them a second thought. [...]

It might be overwhelmed by its more famous neighbour, Stonehenge, yet Durrington Walls is the biggest henge in Europe. Beneath it possibly hides more archaeological interest than in all other [...]

I love obituaries. It is one reason why I read The Times. There is something appealing about trying to summarize a life lived in a few paragraphs. The successes are prominent but the failures [...]

I periodically sprinkle the word woke into my posts. That makes me, a pensioner, appear in touch with the modern world even if I have no idea what it really means. Well, that might have to stop [...]

Urine has a bad press, which is sad. Consequently, it’s not a subject for the dinner table. It is, of course, a waste product and yet not included in the typical waste streams, like plastic [...]

The Chinese Government has approved Chinese Medicine. Does that seem incongruous, a Communist government adopting a pagan or perhaps Buddhist practice from the past? Well, not quite. It seems [...]

As I slave over these posts I often have to fall back on the dictionary. Perhaps that is not apparent when you read them! The moment I sift through the pages, I recall a gruff man holding a [...]

Nobody is demonstrating in the street over this pernicious killer. It hides in the reeled off stats and few stop to consider it. The fact is that Covid-19 is deadly for men. Getting closer to [...]

Psychologists advise us to love ourselves, but what does that really mean? If it means taking a positive view of your past then perhaps I do love myself. This thought arose because I was mulling [...]

Roe deer reappear in Friars Cliff is hardly world shattering news. This headline reminds me of my life in the sticks in Shropshire. The newspaper hoardings would highlight significant events such [...]

Funerals are a symphony in myth and mystery. So people feel unable to manage one themselves and need to rely on the professional funeral director. When you think about that, it’s rather [...]

Sparrows might not be able to sing but they sure can twitter. I see quarrels of sparrows, or rather I hear them, all over Friars Cliff, my little coastal retreat. They might be dull, brown jobs [...]

As a shielded, old person holding society to ransom and ruining life for young people, my holiday experiences over 50 years comes to the fore. Before I start proselytizing, let me make an [...]

The word passion appeals to me; am I getting to be a dirty old man? Yes, is the answer but the dirt is soil. Oops, I hate soil being called dirt so I must not correlate the two words. Soil really [...]