Category: UK

russet-brown pauses

Although life and work are gradually returning to some kind of normality, when weather and time permit, I continue my occasional walks over the local racecourse. It helps to clear the digital world from my mind and lungs, and offers me an opportunity to reset after spending so many hours sitting in the same chair, in front of the same screen.

But, unless I know I have plenty of time to focus on the world around me, I’m unlikely to bother to carry my camera. So although I like to keep a photographic record of the things I see, I have to rely on the camera on my phone, and the photos are not usually great quality. Still, they serve their purpose of reminding me of what I saw when, and sometimes they’re good enough to supply images for this blog.
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staying safe

Yesterday I wrote about the experience of travelling on public transport during the pandemic and about how inconvenient it is to wear a face mask.

Of course any rational human can listen to the arguments and understand how important face masks are, both for our own protection and for the protection of others. And, when I travelled last weekend, most people seemed to have accepted the official advice and be abiding by the recommendations.
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travelling again

After doing so well with writing regularly at weekends since the lockdown began in the UK, I failed to write a post last Sunday because, for personal reasons, I was out and about, venturing far farther in a single day than I have been in the last three months combined.

Leaving the small town in which I live and boarding public transport for the first time since March proved an interesting experience.
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brick walls

Sometimes it seems you’re stuck in a place or a situation and can’t get out. There don’t seem to be any doors to open onto new possibilities and there don’t seem to be any windows, either, to cast any light on the situation.

It’s all brick walls.

But I was brought up in a London suburb, in an area where all the houses were built of red brick, so bricks remind me of home.
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father’s day gift

I’ve never really celebrated Father’s Day. I don’t think anyone did when I was a small child and then, when it became more well-known in the UK, it was considered an American import and looked down on by my parents’ generation. Now, though, it’s almost impossible to ignore. Even when email newsletters offer the chance to opt out of Father’s Day updates, it seeps through on social media, in the news, and in shelves stacked with bottles at the supermarket.
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