Among last time's guff about metaphors and their relationship to reality, I confidently stated that the phrase 'toeing the line' came from lining up on the running track to start a sprint. Seems yet again I was wrong! Hard to believe, I know. Actually, it comes from our language's deep and rich roots in Britain …
Tag: corner cottage
Don’t wear it out
When I was a student, back in the early '80s, among the staples of our mixed tapes would be a song or two by moustachioed singer-songwriter Jim Croce -- he of 'Mad, Bad, Leroy Brown' and funereal weepy 'Time in a Bottle' fame. Although it rapidly became deeply uncool to like Jim as New Wave …
A muddle of puggles
Well, it's not the first time your author has been wrong when it comes to natural facts. Bit it's the most embarrassing by far. Remember the piece I wrote about platypuses? I would hope it still may linger in the memory, being all of two weeks ago . . . But be that as it …
Rooing the day
OK so this one is fraught with rabbit-hole risk, so I'm going to have to keep it tight. That's because it's about very complicated cross-cultural interconnections and disconnections -- boring really, with not much to reveal about life the universe or anything. As I so often have to say, though, bear with me -- there …
Pick a peck of platypus
Platypus is back on the menu, photographically speaking. After months of raptor obsession, a change of approach is required, mainly because the good old Panzerwagen has finally rattled down the final curtain, making longer expeditions less frequent, but also because the season is changing (as they do) and other opportunities beckon. In addition, September was …
Lumbar report
Archie turned three the other day; butterflies are starting to flutter by; the days are warmer and the nights shorter. So we mark another seasonal cycle as the earth turns and the planet circles the sun. With all this carrying on about the changing of the seasons and the passage of time, the unspoken element …
The meaning of leaning
Yesterday, as I was out on a run with Archie, covering part of the same hilly dirt road we follow when stalking raptors, I had one of those disconnected meditative processes running seems to induce. It was on a long uphill gradient and into the teeth of a wind gusting out of the west at …
Sworn to run
Running has not featured much – if at all – on these pages, not because it’s unimportant, but precisely the opposite. In truth, the last few decades’ messing about with bicycles, weights, swimming and yoga have all stemmed from your correspondent's wish to be a better runner. As my old dad used to say, “if …
The shortest day
Today marks the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, and at Corner Cottage we are grateful that it marks the shortest day of the year. It's cold, it's overcast and dull, and the prospect of each day ahead being minutely longer is something to celebrate. There are two (2) ways to deal with the sub-zero …
Things can only get bigger
It's been a good year for the biking -- so far, anyway. With the diminution of La Niña, which contrived to soak us over the span of two summers, we have finally had enough dryness to string together a decent series of rides. Your author's progress chart on Strava looks less like a close-up of …
You must be logged in to post a comment.