I wouldn’t be here today without Holton Heath

Admiralty Park, Holton Heath…

There’s a great novel called Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill, “a daring saga of culture, history, and heredity”. A little girl falls down a mineshaft and we learn of all her wonderful ancestors who were born thanks to minor miracles that brought their parents together or saved them from early death. By quirks of fate does our personal DNA come together.

Obviously I would not be here today if my parents had not met. So in a way I owe my existence to World War II and specifically to the manufacture of explosives by the Royal Navy…

My father was from South Wales, my mother from South Dorset. What could possibly

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A childish fear of volcanoes…

The Indonesian volcano of Rinjani in 1994, by Oliver Spalt on Wikimedia Commons

STOP PRESS: Moments after I published this, reports came in of a volcano erupting in Sumatra – so best wishes to everyone struggling there…
–
Did you have an irrational fear of something when you were a child? In my case, for a while at least, I was terrified of volcanoes. You might say that’s not so crazy. But as I lived in Wales, where an eruption would be pretty near impossible, I think it was.

So this post is all about what

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When Nelson Mandela came to Cardiff

Nelson Mandela in Cardiff, June 1998

I hadn’t expected to post this today, but when I heard the news that Nelson Mandela had died at the age of 95 I felt I needed to write. I found my old diary entry for the day Nelson Mandela received the freedom of the city of Cardiff, on Tuesday, June 16, 1998 – I was there and I want to remember the great man and that lovely day.

At the time

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1960s moments frozen in time

In November 1963, 50 years ago, John Kennedy was assassinated and Doctor Who hit our TV screens…

OK, this will probably be very boring for you, but I am going to explore some big moments in history from my childhood perspective.

If I don’t do this now I never will, for there can never be a better time than the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy and the first episode of Doctor Who on TV. Those events happened in this week and I’m sure most people will have noticed the coverage in the media.

I don’t have any huge insights into history, just a few moments frozen in time. In my mind and heart I can still

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From the non-digital archive: Breton megaliths 1975

One of the alignments of standing stones at Carnac in Brittany, France, in 1975…

This self-indulgent trip down memory lane has been prompted by two things. It was the midsummer solstice on Friday and the Le Mans 24-hour car race took place at the weekend. Bringing these together, here are my very faded images from an archaeology field trip to see the megaliths (“huge stones”) of Brittany (including Le Mans) in 1975.

It was my first

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My third book of books…

My first, second and (new) third little red book of books read…

It’s a small thing, but I feel I need to note a milestone in my life. T S Eliot’s J Alfred Prufrock measured out his life with coffee spoons. In my case I have measured out my life in books.

Recently I came to the end of my second little red notebook listing “books I have read”. I was surprised to find I could

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Things of the past: Bakelite

My old iron…

The other day, when I was in the middle of ironing, all the electrical power went off in the house. I assumed it was a power cut and checked with neighbours. I was surprised to find it affected only our house.

I turned the power-supply trip-switches off and back on. Nothing. I switched off the lights, radio, iron, etc and tried again, realising I had missed one of the trip-switches the first time. Hooray! Let there be light!

I switched the iron back on. Bang! Everything went again. But

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From the non-digital archive: The painted streets of County Cork…

Skibbereen, west Cork, Ireland, in 1995…

A couple of posts ago I shared my pictures of the colourful streets of Aberaeron in West Wales. At the time I mentioned that brightly-painted buildings are also a feature of coastal towns in the west of Ireland.

I haven’t been there for a while, but

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Merry Christmas everybody :)

Stained glass window showing the Nativity with the three magi, Romsey Abbey, Hampshire

May everyone out there have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2012. My gift to you for Christmas Day is some of my favourite Christmas pop songs. Not all those traditional carols (which I love) or anything too kitsch – these three rock yet at the same time are a little bit spiritual…

Chris de Burgh: A Spaceman Came Travelling
- I love the science fiction of it – angel as alien…
link to video (Lego version!)
link to lyrics

Greg Lake: I Believe in Father Christmas
- They said there’d be snow at Christmas, They said there’ll be peace on Earth, Hallelujah, Noel, be it Heaven or Hell, The Christmas we get, we deserve.
link to video
link to lyrics

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: The Power of Love
- I’ll protect you from the hooded claw, Keep the vampires from your door…
link to video
link to lyrics

AND FINALLY…
A slushy song that has been playing in my head – and in all the high street stores – all through December…
David Essex: A Winter’s Tale
Here’s the video from 1989

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Old sewing machines in captivity…

The All Saints window in the Hayes, Cardiff

I think I must be in possession of the only old Singer sewing machine still in the wild. All the others have been rounded up and herded into the windows of All Saints fashion stores throughout the land.

My Singer sewing machine - with apologies to Henri Rousseau's Tiger in a Tropical Storm painting of 1891...

My mother’s machine still

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