I'm reading William Hague's biography of the younger Pitt at the moment (thank you ewx). I found it a bit difficult to get in to, I think because it didn't have much about Pitt's childhood, a part of biographies I always especially enjoy. But seeing the similarity to the modern parliament in debates with constant deliberate demonisation and mockery ( Read more... )

I've just come back from a visit to Jane and Luke. Luke has been working on standing and then walking for over a year now. Until now, his walking has always relied on someone being there to support him but in the last week he has been walking on his own with a stick. While I was there, he did his first 100 yards outside, very slowly, a bit ( Read more... )

I've been having a lot of trouble with some expensive but formidable walking boots I bought in the summer. At first I thought it was because they were heavier than my previous ones (which they were) but as time has gone on, I wondered if they were holding my legs at an odd angle as my knees were complaining as they would if I was going down a long ( Read more... )

Some of the flowers on our pampas grass looked thoroughly singed on Nov 6th.

Although they must have looked pretty while they were burning, please don't aim your rockets at them next year!

I wonder which is the more difficult job: Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police or Chief Executive of a big US bank?

(Cross-posted to Saga Zone.)

In Lidl, they sell bread mixes at 99p for 1 kg (not the 79p for 454 g 'offer' they have on at the moment). The one I tried yesterday had sunflower seeds and rye flour in it and came out a Germanic greyish brown and with a rather bouncy texture but surprisingly tasty and it seems to be keeping relatively well for a home made bread.

M and I took ourselves on a walk along the Stour from Sturminster Newton, circling back to Sturminster Mill. This was one we had worked out from the map only so didn't know what we were going to come across. Most of it was lovely and we were discussing when we could put it on as a led walk, where the lunch stops etc would be when we came to an ( Read more... )

Last week's New Scientist had a series of articles about death. Apart from a gruesome collection of descriptions of what various methods of dying would actually feel like (I think I'll give burning to death a miss if you don't mind) it was pointed out that although the age at death is increasing in many countries, the length of ill health prior to ( Read more... )

A gentle 5-mile walk from Downton today. We passed Trafalgar House, which had been given to Lord Nelson's brother after he died by a grateful nation. Nearby was a derelict chapel with gravestones around it to various of the resulting Nelsons. You certainly do a double-take when you see an inscription to a Horatio Nelson, date of death 1935.

( Read more... )

Today there is front page news that children are becoming too stressed by pushy parents drilling them for their school tests and exams. Children in many other countries in the world today would be hugely relieved if that were their only worry and millions of children from the past would have been extremely envious of children who had shoes, plenty ( Read more... )