When I wrote about spring, with the sap rising and the birds, bees and bugs pursuing procreation with the singlemindedness of teenage boysā quest to cast off their virginity, I wasnāt wrong. But Iām happy to concede that it wasnāt the whole picture. Or maybe it was at the time, but things have moved on …
When I was a kid, we didnāt have Halloween. That is, the church probably had All Hallowsā Eāen, which as we all know is the origin of the name ā but we didnāt have all the stuff with pumpkins, witches, and trick or treating. Iām not saying it didnāt happen, but there certainly wasnāt all …
The funny thing about obsession is that it isnāt funny at all. Many of these posts are the result of one obsessive pursuit or another, and manyās the mention of being drawn into rabbit-holes as one link on the interwebs leads to another two, or four, or so on. One bee in the old bonnet …
Itās inevitable that being something of a cycling fan, your country-bound correspondentās interest has been piqued by the label on local maps that denotes the āformer Hibernian Bicycle Racing Trackā just down other end of Duncan Street. Itās on someoneās land now, so I havenāt been able to have a sticky-beak, but what a tantalising …
You will of course be familiar with my distaste for the popular tendency to anthropomorphise animals ā not merely because of a grumpy, jaundiced outlook on the world in general and mankind in particular, but because thatās not what wildlife is really about ā itās a human-centric way of looking at the world, and look …
I wish I hadnāt used the sophisticated and witty wisecrack, ācall me butter because Iām on a rollā the other day, because it turns out that at the moment, Iām . . . well, on a roll. Except now I canāt call myself butter without unfunnily repeating said bon mot. So, moving right along, the …
One of the familiar phenomena arising from the COVID-19 lockdown is the iso-beard. Chaps and chums all over the globe, liberated from the repressive regime of grooming for work, have thrown in the razor and joyfully sprouted facial fungus. On a recent four-way Zoom with some UK mates, three participants were sporting some degree of …
Remember that stuff I wrote about Adam in the Garden of Eden, and how in his pre-Eve bachelorhood he spent his time wandering about giving things names? It was also pre the serpent and banishment into the harsh world, so very much a state of grace. Itās an attractive idea ā apart from the nudity, …
Remember that movie about the people who spent all their time driving across the continental USA in pursuit of tornados? Twister, I seem to recall it being titled. It depicted the lives and loves of people so obsessed with extreme weather phenomena that theyād risk life, limb and ute to hunt a tornado and subject …
What do you think of when you hear the word āgoatā? Itās an animal with a wealth of associations, and many not that positive: lust, gluttony and evil ā in Western culture, anyway. Theyāre known to be nimble-footed ā think mountain goat ā and for climbing stuff. Hold that thought. Our family, collectively and individually, …
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