Observed this morning through the kitchen window, two wood pigeons on the ridge of the roof next door, but with their backs to each other and about three feet apart. Despite the distance, it was obvious from their body language what was going on. She: “Just leave me alone, can’t you? For Goodness’ sake – [...]
Going over to Malvern to see some old friends today, it seems that Sally and I inadvertently fell through an invisible portal into a parallel universe. All was going well, and life was normal, until we turned left into the pub car park. I suppose we should have been suspicious from the moment we got [...]
In a completely cloudless sky, the stars twinkled brightly tonight. I stood and gazed in amazement as I always do when I see the sky so clear. Reliving childhood wonder and the sense of feeling very very small, I was relieved to be able to see the Milky Way, so often not visible when too [...]
Anyone passing by Aspen House at certain times during the last few days would have been rewarded with the sight of two people engaged in an age-old country tradition, apple scrumping. For generations, no doubt spanning centuries to the time of the first cultivated apples, our hunter-gatherer instincts have made it impossible to resist helping [...]
My youngest son’s birthday today – so, Happy Birthday, Ed! (there you are, Ed – mentioned in dispatches . . . that’ll cost you a pint, next time I see you). Meanwhile, where’s my soapbox? It’s time to get the ol’ megaphone out and have a little grumble about my favourite retailers again. You have [...]
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but the strange wet summer has detrimentally affected some of our native trees. At first, on a day when I had to travel to Malvern to put my lower back through an MOT, I merely thought that the chestnuts on Malvern Common were looking a little sorry [...]
Well, it seems as if summer is truly over, despite the fact that it never really got going and despite the unexpected appearance of the sun lately. Sunny it might be today, but it is the kind of sunshine associated with the first weeks of autumn, when a cool start to the day brings warmth [...]
Autumn is in the air, with the mist on the river and the wood pigeons contentedly cooing in the chill of a clammy dawn. Coo-coo-coo, c-coo, coo-coo-coo, c-coo, coo-coo-coo, c-coo, cuk- . . . Why do they do that? It’s a strange little song. It floats across the air quite softly and then ends with [...]
As I said yesterday, this is the weekend of the Ludlow Food Festival and yesterday was the last day, so I’d better just say a few words about it – and that’s not simply because we had free tickets. Aha, free tickets . . . I can sense that I have at least tickled your [...]
This is weird – I’m running a week behind myself. It’s the weekend of the Ludlow Food Festival, but my diary mind has only just got as far as last Saturday. Anyway, let’s press on. Last Saturday, 6th September, was the first Saturday in the month and, as we all know by now, that means [...]