Well, okay, not everything.  But certainly most of what you learned from my last post had a tinge of mild inaccuracy about it.  You may recall that I spoke of changes to this journal: this was accurate.  You may recall that I spoke of a move to WordPress: this was accurate.  So far, so good, but you may further recall that I then directed you to ( Read more... )

Thus far, it may be noted, my trip had featured little by way of what one may term “traditional holiday fare”, insofar as the activities in which I had indulged were not particularly holiday-specific. I mean, train journeys are all very well (yes they are. Shut up), as are random board and/or card games, but they’re very much the sort of thing that ( Read more... )

This is part four of #largenumberthreatened.  If you’re starting here, you may wish to take a step back and peruse parts one, two and three first.  But be warned: you have been warned.

Two trains and three rather ludicrously-extended preludes later, I was in Oxford.  Well, as close to Oxford as anyone was prepared to let the railway go, in any ( Read more... )

This is part three of #numberunspecified.  If you’re joining at this point, you may wish to backtrack slightly to parts one and two.  Equally, you may not.  Bear in mind, though, that there may be a quiz.

One of the advantages of living here in deepest Wales is that our local train service is unencumbered by that blight on urban travel: the morning ( Read more... )

Blimey.  Thank goodness we made it through that last bit.  Time to breathe a sigh of relief, then, as, having fought our way through something of a laboured introduction, we find ourselves freed from the prison of dodgy comparisons to previously-defunct, now-revived television series and emerge triumphant to bask in the glory of the holiday proper.
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As a rule, I tend not to do holidays.  Well, I do holidays, but not holiday holidays.  Thank goodness we’ve kicked off with a couple of sentences that need no explanation whatsoever, although for the sake of extra clarity we’ll relate it to something more tangible in a moment.

Back in 1997 (yes, that’s right: get yourselves comfortable - there’s ( Read more... )

Quite what sort of a tagline that is for a singing competition, I don’t know, but nevertheless, this year Germany is inviting us to check for a pulse as all eyes turn to Düsseldorf for the 56th Concours Eurovision de la Chanson, as those crazy continentals say, unless they’ve twigged that one tends to have a much better chance of garnering a decent ( Read more... )

It’s been something of a chocolatey week.  As themes for the week go, there are definitely worse and - of late - few better, so I thought we should just take a moment to appreciate this chocolatey week in all its glory.

This chocolatey week started, as all weeks should, on Sunday, with an Eater Egg hunt into which we’ll not go in that much detail ( Read more... )

The main problem I face when compiling these journal entries is the worry that most of the happenings lining up to be documented herein are, if we’re honest, rather on the dull side.  The words, for their part, come easily enough, but have a nasty habit, once I get going, of heaping themselves together in such a way that even my mother would ( Read more... )

It’s altogether rather shocking an occurrence, but for once, the large delay in providing a few more words for this journal is not, as one would expect, due to a dearth of activity.  Indeed, at several points betwixt and between the last entry and this, a fair few Things have Happened.  Some of them probably even warranted a paragraph or two on ( Read more... )