R's rue

  That's Phoebe and Margot on our doorstep on Sunday evening. Phoebe is five and has just begun her second full year at primary school. Margot will be three in November. What I especially like about this photograph is their sisterly hands wrapped in unity around each other. I sincerely hope that they will always be friends, always there for each other even though life might take them miles or continents apart. There won't be any more siblings - just the two of them. This afternoon, I walked over to the neighbouring suburb of Nether Edge. It's a mile away. And there I thought of two other sisters who were born in Sheffield back in the 1930s. They lived in Number 36, Meadowbank Avenue which is a rather nice Edwardian cul-de-sac with a big green in the middle. The sisters' names were Margaret and Antonia. Amazingly, they both became internationally acclaimed writers. People who read books will be familiar with both their names - even if you haven't actually read any of...

On Saturday, I took the train over to Hull to watch The Tigers draw with Aston Villa. The kick off was at teatime but I travelled earlier in the day because I wanted to visit The Hull and East Riding Museum of Archaeology in the historical port city's old town. It's just a stone's throw from another museum - Wilberforce House - the former home of William Wilberforce, the famous anti-slavery campaigner . Anyway, in the archaeology museum, two happy hours passed by as your genial correspondent absorbed information about East Yorkshire from its earliest geological beginnings to medieval times. There were many interesting exhibits to illustrate the story including complete Roman floor mosaics from two villas that were discovered in the region. One of them was at Rudston, close to the stone monolith I wrote about very recently. However, it was another exhibit that left me awestruck. It was inside a climate controlled glass case. Two wooden figures standing on a wooden boat star...

Perhaps inspired by Grandmaw Moon over in northern Florida, I had it in mind to tackle a jigsaw. After all, isn't that one of the things that retired people are meant to do as they watch the clock ticking in God's waiting room? Being a Yorkshireman, I am as tight as a duck's arse as we say in these parts. I was very reluctant to buy a new jigsaw. Couldn't I just purchase a secondhand one cheaply from a charity shop? Another determining point was this - the jigsaw image needed to be one that I wanted to work on as I knew it would take me hours to do. Google Gemini suggests that it takes  between twelve and twenty hours for a "beginner" to complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. In the middle of May, I was in the local "British Heart Foundation" charity shop  looking for branded "Old Fella" clothes when I spotted a jigsaw I knew I would like. It only cost £3 and the image was of a lovely village on the North Yorkshire coast that is familiar to m...

When the Blogger comments glitch happened earlier this week, I asked Google what was wrong and their Gemini AI facility  anticipated  other, related questions including, "What  is the dark side of blogging?" This is what Gemini coughed up and it may be of interest to other bloggers who like me are also actively steeped in the blogosphere and blog production. ⦿ The dark side of blogging involves hidden mental, social, and professional pressures that come with sharing your life and work publicly online. Burnout and Time Demands Constant content pressure: You must keep publishing new material to stay relevant, which can drain your creative energy. No real vacations: Taking a break often means losing readers, search engine traffic, and income. Hidden workload: Writing is only a small part of the job; research, editing, promotion, and technical upkeep take up most of your hours. Mental Health and Obsession Metrics addiction: Constantly checking stats, page views, and follow...

  It has often appeared strange to me how things can be connected. One thing does indeed lead to another. As Freddie Mercury would have probably agreed, "It's a kind of magic". Take the book I have just finished reading today - "The Goshawk" by T.H. White. I decided to read it because it meant and still means so much to my significant friend Richard Hines. He often refers to it. He read it when he was in his late teens and it was this book that inspired him to acquire and "train" his own bird of prey inasmuch as a bird of prey can ever be trained.  Richard had no means of acquiring a goshawk so instead, balanced on a ladder, he surreptitiously took a young kestrel from the ruins of  Tankersley Old Hall just north of Sheffield and through that bird learnt the ancient art of falconry. His older brother, Barry, observed Richard's new hobby and turned what he had seen into the basis of his famous novel, "A Kestrel for a Knave" which later bec...

When it comes to apparel, why are so many people obsessed with branding? Let me say straight away that I am not. In fact, I go the other way and actively seek out items that have no obvious signs of branding logos and the like. I have even been known to snip off or unpick designer labels . And yet for many there is comfort in the labelling and branding. It is as if they are perfectly happy to go about advertising the companies that manufactured the clothing and footwear they purchased - often at large expense. They probably think that people like me are just plain weird... "Did you see that bloke? It was impossible to spot which brands he was wearing!" and maybe, "What's wrong with him?" I grew up in a world without obvious branding  - apart from that which appeared on motor vehicles. Mostly things were plain and it was impossible to discern what brands other people were wearing - not that anyone was bothered of course. And this was even true of sportswear. I do...

David at "Adventures of Travel Penguin" has a well-organised blog that includes regular features. Every Sunday he comes up with five themed questions under the umbrella title - "The Sunday Five". You never know what the theme might be. For example, this past Sunday the questions were all about the coffee chain, "Starbucks":- 1: Would you stop at this Starbucks, it is between the train station and the Palace of Versailles? 2: When was the last time, you had something from a Starbucks? 3: How do you feel about those who believe Starbucks is evil? 4: Describe your local alternative to Starbucks? 5: What is your order at Starbucks? As it happens, I have only been in one Starbucks - primarily to use their lavatory but feeling slightly guilty about it, I must confess that I then bought an iced coffee. It was a very hot day - earlier this summer. This was on the day I travelled to Uttoxeter to undertake a long country walk. Anyway, that doesn't matter. The m...