We humans are strange creatures. The biggest organ on our body is the skin. However, this is surely the most abused organ when impacted by chemicals and other substances. I know that to my cost. [...]

It is that time of year, the beautiful burgeoning of nature. It gets to me because a little knowledge is a wonderful thing. I suddenly see wildflowers everywhere and I think about them before I [...]

Are you eating enough fibre? I asked myself that question just to see how I was doing. The fact that I need to visit the toilet early every morning suggests that I am doing well. So, onto the [...]

I had not seen an handkerchief tree since visiting Richmond Park in 2012 or thereabouts. The white bracts, which look like handkerchiefs, can be spectacular in May. They hang down all over the [...]

It was Ann who called it the white run. We were looking down into Cressbrook Dale at the time. The mass of white May was overwhelming, in other words, the dale was covered in hawthorn blossom. [...]

There are few plants that completely change their personality, that surprise you in their new dress. I first bought this plant at Bakewell Market and it cost me nearly £10.00. The cost of plants [...]

Visiting a gorgeous wild garden recently, sheep were vilified. However, I am conflicted when I consider sheep; there is both good and bad. The bad arose at the garden, that for the past 300 [...]

Am I becoming less tolerant in my 80th year? I think of myself as relaxed but how do I know that? Only rarely do I flare up, as it were. Ann I and I ran over to Castleton, that quite amazing [...]

I doubt that you have ever heard of Dunge Valley Gardens. They sit on a wild, remote hillside at close to 1000 feet, looking westwards. It is an acid soil created by the underlying gritstone and [...]

I have had one of those pleasant periods, one of those ‘spots in time‘ that define an enjoyable life. It started when a Times writer wrote about the joy of a long marriage. One of [...]

It is the springtime and the blood is warming up. Nothing heats my blood more than flowers. Did nature create flowers just for bees or to excite we humans? I think the latter is likely because [...]

I was reading about a heart transplant, an amazing NHS service. However, I suddenly felt redundant! I would never qualify if my heart failed because I am too old. That was a strange feeling, [...]

At last, the good news I have been waiting for! Meat & dairy produce are good for you. What a relief, and it has taken decades to come. I have often mentioned to Ann that none of the health [...]

I am composting at the current time. Well, undoing the compost heap. That might sound like a simple activity but there is a catch; those spikey creatures that like to live in the compost heap. I [...]

I am not a lover of Christmas. All that plastic crap outside peoples houses lighting up the night – it has to be thrown away! All the plastic crap that constitutes presents. The landfill [...]

Here’s my pants but minus my legs. That’s a pity because I still have fairly good legs. I recall the old saying, being hoisted by your own petard. Well, this is being hoisted by your [...]

Sheep get a bad press. It’s as if these dumb creatures lack brains and any sense of their own danger. That is a travesty and I am going to plead their case. I see sheep all the time, on [...]

I can easily relax these days. Give me sporting Bradwell and I admire the displayed skills and stamina. Not professional football of course, I mean amateur sport. The real sport is down in the [...]

I get myself into some strange communications. An academic paper sent to me asked whether death is environmental, rather than purely a social issue. What a loaded question! A body is protected by [...]

Feeling like an old fossil, I was fit for this museum. It principally contains fossils representing the Yorkshire Jurassic Coast. To be honest, I did not realise that such a coast existed. [...]

It’s rather like a sanitorium in our house these days. Blame the coughing! If Ann and I were a duo, we would be the phlegm singers. It all started with Ann going down with a sore throat. [...]

At this colourless time of year I think I have the winter blues. Ann has been down with a nasty virus for 6 days, which is unlike her. In my usual macho way, I kept going, confident I would not [...]

As a runner, you come across people in so many ways. Dropping off Hollins Cross and into woods, a man was photographing fungi. These were Fly agaric to be precise, and the most perfect pixie [...]

I do call myself a writer. Firstly, it has a nice ring to it. Secondly, it makes me sound erudite, whatever that means. However, even we writers, with nobody reading our work, have to take care. [...]