One of the most compelling of TV shows, which we've watched together since the first series, is the BBC's Race Across the World.

It was probably about 10 years ago that I planted a group of bluebells beside the pyracantha bush in the garden. Everyone likes to see bluebells, right? These bulbs may have been a gift, or perhaps a spur-of-the-moment purchase during a garden centre visit; I can't remember.

Friday 2 May 2025,  the day after local government elections (...and just a few weeks after we cashed in a Virgin Experience gift voucher for a one-night stay in Lincoln).

12:30 pm

C:     Reform have won the Lincolnshire mayoral election

M:    I don't want to list Lincoln now.

The commercialisation of Easter moves apace, with Holy Week now being called Easter Week and Good Friday beginning to morph into Easter Friday in the media. Apparently Easter decorations are now a thing, as are Easter crackers!

Okay they aren't marketed as Easter crackers, but the images of chicks.

It's teatime on Wednesday 2 April. The previous Sunday I volunteered to cook Mothers Day Sunday dinner for C and our younger son's family, 7 of us.

...on the high street anyway. In the mid- to late-1960s WH Smith on Coney St in York was our go-to record store. On the ground floor was the newsagent/bookshop and in the basement was the music (all on vinyl obviously).

We are out for a walk, taking M (11 months) to see the swans and geese on the river. I am playing my usual part as the family jester - running ahead of the buggy a few meters and then turning back to surprise M.

C: Is she laughing?

M: Of course.

Had Trump been elected president in 1940... we'd all be speaking German

...and the Americans would be speaking Japanese.

I first heard the Grace Slick song "China" when the album "Gunfighter" was released in 1971.  It's a beautiful song by a new parent marvelling at the miracle of her little daughter. No schmaltz - this is Grace, after all - in fact there's a fierceness about the hopes and sentiments being expressed.

I decided that D, who is only 5 but pretty sharp, should know that books are not just for reading but for finding information as well.

C will occasionally say I am an opinionated sod. I don't deny this. 

Apparently the then Tory government quietly passed the 1995 Pensions Act and somehow convinced the entire British media to ignore this major piece of legislation which affects half of all Britons.

Cambridge! A new (excellent) venue for the band, a new city for me, and a place to meet some new friends.

Two nights of DSO in London have to be a highlight of the year for UK Deadheads. A ‘must do’ in spite of the travel and London accommodation costs.

The Thursday night (26th) was pretty awesome (the set list from 9/10/74 with a Lisa special - Piece of my Heart - to finish).

To me and to our friends at Sheffield uni he was simply Mike Smith, but later he reverted/converted to Michael Pearson-Smith.

Lying face-down on our towels on Llevant beach, Formentera. C is scuffling the sand underneath her.

C:    I'm making dips for my tits in the sand.

M:    I need a huge cavern for my cock.

I pride myself in knowing what a phishing email looks like and when a scammer rings my mobile and tries it on. In fact I probably forward more emails to report@phishing.gov.uk than they'd really like and have a large number of contacts on my phone which are blocked or simply named Scam.

I'm idly channel-hopping whilst undertaking my (almost) daily knee exercises (12 months on and the knee hasn't let me down again, so I'm sticking at them) when suddenly I'm catapulted back to the year 1967 by the sublime vision of Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers! 

I've stumbled upon an obsc

Ever since connecting with Deadheads twice in queues at Disney in Orlando in 2022 I've made a point of wearing either a Dead T-shirt and/or my Steelie cap, when possible, in the USA.

"I'm really proud of my teenage kids.

We are walking from our roadside parking to the lawn which leads to the windsurfers' lagoon in Hood River. There's a paved walkway but C chooses to use a short-cut across the strip of garden around the lawn.

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