Ringing the Changes
We’re a quarter through 2024 almost, and it has been an eventful year so far. Most importantly, Bruce’s 2024 GoFundMe campaign is taking up more of my time this year than last. Travelling to dance competitions is expensive at the best of times, so any support we can get to keep Bruce prepared…
Who the Hell Is Mick Karma?
Regular readers (both of you) will recall I mentioned something secret in my last blog (under the section “Secret Squirrel”) which I expected to be shortly revealed. Well, it goes like this. In September, I started a course teaching me how to approach stand up comedy. Over the course of 8 weeks I…
Coffee Shop Warrior
It’s fair to say I spend a lot of time in coffee shops. You may have heard of the “road-warrior.” Nothing to do with Mad Max, this is a remote working phenomenon, where powerful laptops, fast internet connections, and motivation to work collide, with productive results. These people also have the advantage of…
To Portugal and Back: Bronzed, but No Tan
Earlier this year, I shared the remarkable news that my son Bruce had been selected for the Dance World Cup. This meant that we would be travelling to Portugal in June for him to perform his lyrical dance. It was established early on that all five of us would be travelling, along with…
A Rare Night Away!
Ceri and I recently took a break from the madness of day-to-day life (and more specifically, her campaign for re-election) and spent the night in York. After depositing our children with grandparents, we took an easy drive down the city, pulling in at our first destination: the Minster Hotel on Bootham. I’d requested…
A Tree of Time and Facing the Past
I don’t know when I started writing stories, but it definitely happened at primary school, initially at the instruction of teachers. My stories seemed to stand out more than my schoolfriends’ efforts, so much so that we would still talk about them months or even years later. One strand of tales involved a…
Not-Quite An Accountancy Shanty
I’ve found accountants are my least favourite aspect of running my own company. When I fiirst started using an accountant, I found that I saved perhaps a day’s work on top of the usual collation of receipts, statements, invoices, etc., from the previous 12 months. Obviously I was aying for improved accuracy too,…
Going Weird (Al Yankovic)
A couple of weeks ago, Bruce and I drove down to Manchester after school to get stuck in lots of traffic and eventually see “Weird Al” Yankovic. The show at the Manchester O2 Apollo was the first opportunity to see Weird Al since the twins were born/very young. As Bruce enjoys his music…
Barry Meat Sneak Peek
Several times on this blog I’ve referred to Barry Meat’s travelogue, a guide to a small but oft-ignored portion of Yorkshire. Although I conceived the character about 20 years ago, I really didn’t have a home for him until about 5 years ago (thanks, COVID lockdowns). That’s when I considered the idea of…
I Bought a Cigar Box Guitar…
I didn’t even know cigar box guitars existed until a few years ago, and even then I found them a bit of a silly novelty. But listening to an Amazon playlist of acoustic blues music recently, I discovered that I really liked the sound. This unlocked my interest in cigar box guitars, something…