Blogs: What Is It That Alarms People?

No. 1. Blogs and Bloggers

Yesterday John was talking to a couple of friends who had been admiring his photos and wanted to see more. ‘Have a look at them on Marion’s Blog,’ he suggested. Both ladies looked embarrassed, as if he was suggesting something rude, and quickly tried to change the subject.

What did they think? Continue reading Blogs: What Is It That Alarms People?

Henry V Live!

Live on the screen that is…

You may remember we went to see Henry V at Stratford last month, and found it most compelling. So compelling in fact that when we had to the chance to see it again, not live but on the screen in the Showcase Cinema de Lux in Derby, we jumped at the chance.

Sadly, only about a dozen other people either knew about it, or were tempted to come, so our friends Gill and David, and John and I sat almost alone, surrounded by empty seats. Continue reading Henry V Live!

I was The Last to Know

John's latest wedding?

I know not all of you are Facebook fans, but John and I both like it in a low key sort of way.

We never reveal anything private or very personal. I have found a few old school friends and love the keeping up to date with friends that you maybe wouldn’t normally hear from except at Christmas. We occasionally discover what our ‘young’ are up to, and I have also enjoyed keeping in touch with some of our former Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns guests that over the years turned into friends. Continue reading I was The Last to Know

Maximum Effect with Minimum Effort…

Pesto Chicken with Cheesy Dumplings The aim to achieve the maximum effect with the minimum of effort has always been a useful mantra for me, at least in the kitchen department. One has to assume, naturally, that it’s a wholly positive, good effect that one is striving for.

In my experience a perfect cheese or a fish soufflĂ© is easy (honestly!) but whenever I produce one everybody falls off their chairs with amazed admiration – I assume it’s not surprise. It’s the same funnily enough with meringues which, again, I find could hardly be easier… Continue reading Maximum Effect with Minimum Effort…

A Second Childhood – St Peter’s Revisited

You may well wonder I suddenly seem obsessed with my schooldays, and for the moment, I really am! Having left school, and Africa in one fell swoop at the age of 18 when my parents retired and went to settle in England taking their family with them it had never occurred to me to stay behind on my own. Continue reading A Second Childhood – St Peter’s Revisited

A Chequered Education

Photo of the hat, and Marion
Photo of the hat, and Marion
I went to six school during 14 years of schooling and no, I wasn’t expelled from any of them but until my sister and I went – as boarders – to our senior school run by Anglican nuns in Bulawayo, St Peter’s Diocesan School for Girls, we had to change schools whenever our father was transferred.

A creature of habit, law abiding and actually quite shy, I absolutely dreaded starting a new school and only began enjoying myself after a term or two when I started feeling more confident. I must admit that in my teenage years Continue reading A Chequered Education