The debonair Basil Marigold's

It has begun to prove useful, having a five year old son. His size is now almost perfect. If I had a chimney, he'd be up it with a brush. I don't, however, have a chimney. I do have a car. Quite frankly vacuuming it can be bit of pain: the bending down; I can't lean cross through the car to hoover the other side. I have too go around no open the other side doors. These can be on the road; I have to then pay attention if a car wants to go down the street. It's a chore. Now though, I have a 'Vacuum Monkey'. He's fantastic. He can clamber over seats carrying the long extension nozzle. He can now, also, detach and reattach the different vacuum nozzles. He can start on the pavement side of the car and work his way across. He can fit under the car seats. He's the car equivalent of a potholing rescue team member! Now he has started following instructions he's become less of a liability! He enjoys it, too! One of his questions yesterday, having vac...

We've lost yet another talent in 2016. It's now taken one of the finest comedy actors in history. And, perhaps more importantly for people of a certain age, he represented one of the my childhood memories; He was Willy Wonka. I had read most of the Roald Dahl books as a child. This one was a particular favourite. What child would not want to be part of a tour of the worlds biggest chocolate factory (comparable to going around the Guinness brewery in Dublin, as an adult!). This tour was led by Willy Wonka. Gene Wilder, who has died at 83 IS Willy Wonka. When we play our Charlie and the chocolate factory audio CD in the car. I can only see Gene Wilder. I cannot separate the character from the actor. He played the part in such a sublime way, he made it his own. In the audio CD the character is all jolly. In the books and in the film he is a far more complex character. He is hugely mysterious. As Wilder said, 'He was part of this world, but also part of another'. ...

And so, it ends. After 12 calendar months, our English Heritage membership expires in a few days. It's been quite a good year. It has made us explore the heritage locally and even driven our choice in holidays, too! The family membership cost us about £70. I has, completely, and without qualification, a little bit of a bargain. It started when I realised in June of last year that we were heading, in August to Brixham and in October to Scarborough. Noticing that English Heritage held three properties near Brixham; Berry Pomeroy, Totnes and Dartmouth Castles (all within driving distance). We also knew that membership also opened the doors of Scarborough Castle and Whitby Abbey. Again, places we would be near in October. For £70 this seemed an excellent opportunity to access some good sites. With all the entries for these places we felt that we could break even on the £70 if we didn't take membership and paid for access. At my last reckoning. The amount of money we would have ...

There is a song I love. It is from the 60's and it was written and performed by two, very talented, individuals. They were called, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. At its release it was a huge hit. This song is currently acting as the soundtrack to my current weekend scenerio. The good lady wife, AND the children are away for this weekend. Camping, near Lincolnshire. The house is very quiet. Very, very quiet. Hence the above. It is quite odd not having them all around the house. This must be what it will be like, when I have retired. They return tomorrow.

My wife has the main car. It's the one I use to commute the 60 miles to work and then back again in the evening. I will be using her runaround for 2 work days. It is a tiny little Toyota Yaris. There are a few things to be said, to add context. With me inside it, then. A) It's like putting an elephant into a shoe box! B) I have now had the car for 3 days and am still unable to figure out how to tune the radio to another station. C) I have, with the help of the next door neighbour, figured out how you turn main beam on and, more importantly, off again. So, that's been pretty successful. starting it, pointing it and stopping it has been okay so far, too! Yet, it's still an elephant in a shoe box.

Most people, at some time, will have come across the novels of, Stephen King. His main style of writing would almost certainly be identified as horror. Horror, on an epic scale. Some, would argue that his surname equates to his position in the canon of horror writers. If you wish to not sleep well, then focus on some of his early horror novels. I am not hugely into horror, both in literary and movie genre. It's never been something I would overly look for. Stephen King, however, I have read. Quite a few in fact. Though this phase would have been late teens/early twenties. We're talking a couple of decades ago. He is more than just a pure horror writer he thinks about it and a lot of the novels are quite philosophical. Yet, what he also wrote, very well, was fantasy. No horror in those, just plain fantasy. I also found this a little odd. Like Dickens suddenly popping a couple of comedy books out because he was bored of writing Victorian Dystopia. I read one of his called, the ...

Two weeks holiday is quite a rarity for me. It's usually measured by week. However, this August I managed to secure a fortnight away from work. It has seemed a very long time, in a good way! As well as visiting some wonderful places, both on the north and south of England. From tip to toe, so to speak. It has also allowed me some serious reading time. I have made us of this. I have made some decent inroads into my planned holiday reads. My holiday reads mainly fall into two categories; quick reads, and, requires effort. I find this is the best combination as I tend to read multiple books at the same time. A hangover from my Uni days. I, invariably, read my, requires work books over a period of weeks and months. The quick reads I'll do in a day or two days. So, this year I packed four books. And here they are; AETHELSTAN: (Tom Holland) quick read Usually, Works of history would fall into the requires work section. And my recent obsession with the War of the Roses, ...