Uckfield Post Office, 1955Harry Tomsett, second row, centre But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling…
This much I know about…Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” and the sonnet form
I have written about sonnets many times; Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” is a striking volume written entirely in that particular poetic form. “The Art of Teaching II” will resonate with every teacher in the land. You can read it here….
This much I know about…the time I was closest to my dad
Some 37 years to the day since he died, this much I know about the time I was closest to my dad. I was closest to my dad for two days in the summer of 1978 when I was just…
This much I know about…three very personal reasons why I think Boris Johnson has to go
I need to get this out of my system. My mother died of Covid-19 on 18 April 2020, in a care home 260 miles away, alone. I said my final goodbye to her via mobile ‘phone as I was not…
This much I know about…reaching the same age as my dad when he died
Uckfield Post Office, 1955Harry Tomsett, second row, centre My dad was a postman from the day he left school at the age of 14 until he died, 43 years later. I have written at length about him. His life story…
This much I know about…how nothing needs to matter too much
I turned 57 yesterday. It was no ordinary birthday. On the contrary, it was a landmark moment. I am now the same age as my Dad was when he died. When he was told he had weeks to live, Dad…
This much I now about…the day I met Nicklaus, Jacklin and Seve Ballesteros
I always wanted to be a professional golfer. In 1979 I had a week off school to caddy for my brother’s mate, Trevor, at the British Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s, just outside Blackpool. Trevor was…
This much I know about…why Les Britanniques are all anglers now!
Last year I published An Angler’s Journal, my first foray into writing about fishing. You can buy a copy on Amazon by clicking the image below. A few weeks ago The Economist magazine advertised for a writer for their “Britain”…
This much I know about…two sentences by John Steinbeck
I have just finished Professor Stanley Fish’s, How to write a sentence and how to read one. It was a delight. Whilst I was reading it, I thought of two John Steinbeck sentences which I have always admired. Now feeling sufficiently…
This much I know about…why we must pay our NHS staff properly
This much I know about why we must pay our NHS staff properly. ‘Tis now Spring, and all the pleasures of it displease me; every other tree blossoms, and I wither: I grow older, and not better; my strength diminisheth,…