The debonair Basil Marigold's

Recently, we have had an issue with our main car. The issue was its inability to pass its own MOT. For cars, this is not good. It is, very bad. It can mark the death of the car. And boy, this car is virtually indestructible! However, there were quite a few major fails! It essentially boils down to the fact that the car is now thirteen years old, which, in car years is thirteen years. this makes it an older car. The plus to this is that it drives a lot of miles each year that helps keep the engine tip top. The drawback is that the car drives a lot of miles each year which that means every thing is fatiguing. In this case it was the brake pipes throughout the car. This is a big job, using garage parlance, and big correlates with expensive! But, it has now passed its MOT as the work has been done. This means thought that the warning signs are there and it is time to get a car where each repair cost more than the car. Currently valued by WeBuyAnyCar at £215!! So, with children in h

You can spell ‘Contractor’ but not Plumber!!! 

At work we have a fully fitted kitchen for staff to make drinks, use the microwave and fridges etc. It has two sinks and an instant boil tap. I love the instant boil tap. Every house should have one! We also have some taps for our sinks. They have been there since I have been there and they are used very heavily every day and so, at some point, they will fail. The tap failed last week. Fortunately facilities swung into action and put up an out of service sign and rang through to get it fixed. I can only assume they had tried to call, Christopher Plummer...oh dear.

My son and I will often listen to music in the car. Previously he used to enjoy the AC/DC soundtrack to Ironman 2. His current listening pleasure is the soundtrack to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. These are performed by various artists, mainly from the 70s. I therefore find myself listening to music I used to hear on the Alan Freeman show on Radio 1 on a Sunday afternoon. He is particularly fond of sweet's, Band on the run.    Pure 70s Glamrock. He loves it. He'll also gravitate towards  Hooked on a feeling & Mr Blue Sky (This is the song on the opening credits). We will listen to all these songs in the car. But, the most appropriate one for being in a car is a song called, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. It is suitable because this song become at some point the theme tune to Formula 1 racing. Joshua knows it as the formula 1 song. His other fact about Fleetwood Mac is that Mick Fleetwood is really tall. As we were driving through town we were listening to the chai

As I count via the calendar it has now reached the ninth month since I have had any alcohol. This is a most bizarre state of affairs. I have made no new years resolution, and, as far as I am aware I have had no warnings over my health either. Therefore, I have no idea why this has continued for so long. I commute a long distance so I have not had a drink during a weekdays for years now. Yet, I could quite happily have a drink on a weekend but I neither felt the need nor had the desire to make a dent into my whiskey or gin in the cupboard. Perhaps the scariest part is I am not sure when this phase will pass. I will keep the alcohol on the shelf for the time being, though.

After three months of fairly intense watching I have now finished all four seasons of 'Vikings'. It has been highly entertaining watching the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok and his family.  Ragnar Lothbrok is an interesting character. He is ingrained in the very fabric of Nordic, but also English folklore. In the late 8th century raiders from Scandinavia began popping along the English coastline and they were pretty grim folk. One of these ancient kingdoms affected was Northumbria. In the 9th century it had a King called Aelle. In legend this king finally kills the Viking Ragnar by dropping him into a pit of snakes.  This event kicked off in legend and reality a huge chain of events that still reverberate to this day. Ragnar Lothbrok's last words were.  "How the  little pigs would grunt  if they knew how the old boar suffers"   He had sons. He had quite a few sons. And one things Vikings liked was avenging. The death of Ragnar brought over from Scandinavia wh

Yes. It has rolled around again; It's vast, overblown, and entirely fuelled by money! It is the FIFA World Cup. 2/3 years since FIFA nearly sank under the weight of it's own corruption their global jewell in the crown has landed in Russia. Known around the world for its transparent and open government, virtually free of corruption of any kind. 32 teams of varying quality have arrived in the East to win this golden trophy. This, to me, is the most beautiful trophy in the world. When I was young one of my first memories of world football was Mexico '86. At this time I was a year from secondary school and we were at the height of the Panini sticker albums. I completed the season one for the First Division. Teams like Liverpool, Aston Villa and Chelsea etc. But over the summer of 1986 they released the world Cup sticker album. This book contained non-english people. It was the most foreign publication I had ever seen. There were names I could not pronounce and they seeme

One of the tangible benefits to a long commute is the time. The time spent within the car can be a fair few hours each day. I have therefore had to find ways to fill the time. One way to do this is via the medium of podcasts. I have found a few of these that I enjoy. One of these has rekindled a nostalgic past love. The pod is called, Always There. For those of you who know and have already made the connection, and I imagine that is probably a lot of you, then you will know that what I mean is Howards Way. Howards Way was one of the most popular TV series. It pulled in over twelve million viewers on a Sunday night. It first aired in 1985 along with another soap opera that is still going, Eastenders (I know which one I prefer!!). It lasted for 5 seasons when it finally ended in 1990. sadly, Eastenders did not... However, like a shooting star, Howards way burnt brighter than all the others. It scorched across the mid-80s landscape encapsulating all that we remember about that very

My daughter is very nearly 9 yrs old. This weekend she is away camping. A couple of nights ago as I was taking her to bed and while she was sat on the bed we had a quick chat. It was along the lines of; 'I won't see you Friday, as I'll not be back from work in time, so have a fantastic trip, and enjoy your camping. I will see you on Sunday!' She looked back at me, smiled and replied, 'Yes Daddy, I will. Daddy, have a good journey to work tomorrow. If you have a crash though, then Goodbye.' Well. It is an honest reply, I guess!! It was a quiet journey to work on Friday. Lost deep in thought. Marvellous.

And we have been and returned from Northumberland. The last English county before Scotland. It is fairly rural and in most parts empty, save for fields and trees.  This year we found ourselves located nearer to the sea, at a tiny village called Beadnell. Just a few miles south of Seahouses. There is not a huge amount in the place to see or do. An 18th century church sits at the centre, which is pleasant enough. One of the local Pubs incorporates a pele tower. A pele tower being a small fortified building (usually a tower), that carries on top an iron basket that could be filled with kindling day and night to warn of, usually, Scottish incursions. An early warning system if you will. These were sites around, Northumberland, Cumbria, North Yorkshire. There is a great example a few miles out of Beadnell called Preston pele tower Preston Pele tower here, looking just that, like an isolated castle keep.  Further up the coast is Seahouses and then Bamburgh, and Lindisfarne. All lovely visiti

My wife owns a very stupid car. Here is the story and I am sure once you have read the story you will agree too! On Sunday the main car I use, we shall call it, 'The Amazing Car' had a little issue in that it started to make an unpleasant noise. Fortunately I was able to use my wife's car, as she was not at work this day. This allowed me to get the car to the garage to see if we could get it fixed. Nobody told me it was a stupid car. I have driven this car before. It is a tiny Toyota Yaris. It is something that I don't fit into so comfortably, but it can be done. So, it was done and I set off for work on Monday, knowing how to turn on the lights, and the windscreen wipers! what else do I need to know. The pedals were all in the familiar place, too! While travelling down the motorway I wondered to myself looking at the dashboard that the trip metre was set at 1000 miles, so I wondered to myself 'How many miles has the Yaris done?' This was quite an easy t

I mentioned a few weeks ago about the sudden demise of my favourite pen shop in Nottingham, Pensense. It was a hammer blow to my heart!  However, I am not one to dwell and have decided that this great hole in my heart must be filled. So, I have found a new hobby!  I shall become a coin collector!  Here is my first real effort. It is a silver Antoninianus. It is 1780 years old. It could have been minted between 238 - 244ACE. We know this because it shows the profile of the Roman Emperor, Gordian III   He became the youngest sole emperor in 238 at 13 years old. He died, or was assassinated in 244 by his close friends or closer generals after the Roman Army was defeated in battle near modern day Fallijah, in Iraq, by the Persians.  It still, even now, amazes me at how far the influence and marching of the Roman army was. From a capital in Italy they were defeated 2,400 miles away on some dusty plain. In the end, either during the battle or afterwards Gordian died aged 19 yrs old. A six-ye

It had started to get warmer and lighter, yet a few days ago it became really cold again. It is forecast that the next week will, again, be more winter than spring. Below Zero is forecast.  I was beginning to think that I should start packing my trousers away until November. I have postponed this for at least a week now.  The last two days have been gloriously sunny, but just so cold. 

He saw it rolled up on a charity shop table.  A magnetic darts board in a tube, with 6 darts. It was priced at £2. My son at the time asked if he could have it, but I had no money. So we carried on shopping. Today he wanted to go out and so raided his piggy bank for the £2 and proceeded to buy his first ever darts board. It has on one side a normal darts board, on the other it is a target board and it rolls up into a tube. Ideal for holidays!  The darts are just perfect for him, not me! and he has hung it on his bedroom door and has plodded away throwing his green and blue magnetic darts at it this evening. As an added bonus, it also helps his counting as he has to work out what a double amount might be, what his scores add up too. It encourages his maths skills without him realising. He just wants to play darts!  So, he seems a happy little Moleman. And maybe one day he might be Champion of the world!

It was recently Valentine’s Day. It is a day to celebrate your loved one. If you do not have a loved one you tend to have to buy your car a card. The driver for valentines, which like every type of festival has been caught and turned into a huge pressure event. If you don’t have a loved one, then you cannot participate. The commercialisation can make people feel alone and apart, a failure if you will.  I’m not sure how many valentines I have shared with anyone else. It was never a day that meant much. I know my grandfather died on Valentine’s Day. That wasn’t a happy event. He died in a street in Mansfield holding flowers for my Nannar. He’d never really bought her flowers. But, on the day he tried that happened.  However, Valentine’s Day presents, we are told by TV and social media now are; chocolates, wine - the popular tipple now being Prosecco, jewellery, etc.  I though, I got an immensely practical gift. I was bought a flask. Not any old flask, but in my humble opinion. The Greate

My son, who is now seven. As he once said, 'I have been six a very long now'. Now though, he is seven. He is happy with this. One day we had a boys day out to the local shop. The main shop in our town has a car park. It is a car park designed as an afterthought on a postage stamp. On this day we had driven around it a couple of times to find a space. There were none. In the end we drove out and onto one of the nearby streets where I knew there was parking. We then walked back to the supermarket for a drink and to pick up some bits. On the way back to the car we spotted a police car driving around and then parking up in a space a few hundred metres away from where we were walking. At this point Joshua put his hand on my arm and whispered to me in a very serious voice, "Be sensible Daddy, be sensible." He made me laugh. I didn't know if he was talking to me or talking about himself. He's a quirky little boy. He may well be seven, but he must obviously be m

It is important to remember in all circumstances that, Life must go on... The world never stops turning. It will not pause for you to gather yourself together and then choose to restart. The classic, you can never step in the same river twice. And so, this is the philosophical stance I am taking after receiving the following email this week; As a valued customer we wish to inform you that Pen Sense at King Street Nottingham will close on 10th February 2018 . We are retiring completely from the business, and wish to thank you for all your support over the years. My heart sank whilst reading the lines from beginning to end. It's the end. The finest shop in Nottingham, to close. I, the valued customer, left bereft by this news. But still, the world will turn. It will not think or care for my loss! Dark times.

It has been one of the toughest weeks of my life. the dawning realisation that I am now, truly, getting old and becoming decrepit has hit home, and it has caused a huge amount of soul searching. The way I have discovered this has broken my heart. It is not something I have ever thought possible, and it has buckled me at the knees. How does one confess such a thing in public? How does a man confess such a thing in public? Something that makes me so terribly sad when I think about it. My youth, lost behind me. Lost in a physical way. I can't eat raw pickled onions anymore. I took a cheese and onion sandwich to work a few weeks ago, and in the afternoon I found I had terrible stomach ache. I passed it off as a one off. I wasn't able to face the fear in the back of mind. I think I knew though. I just pushed it away. Then a couple of days ago I bought a normal jar of silverskin onions. As normal I took about 3 or 4 out and added them to my lunch plate. I couldn