It's Saturday, September 20th, 2025, I'm in Łódź and today I'm off to the Włocławek Rock Festival. Outside the sky is blue and there is a warmth in the air. I went out for a short "walk around the block" before breakfast. The streets of Łódź are very much in a grid layout in this … Continue reading Łódź, Włocławek, Łódź, Poznań, Łódź. Part 2.
It's not you, it's me…I just haven't been in a writing mood lately, there you have it, sad but true. Anyway, let's go back to September, shall we? I'm catching the 10:00 Metropolitan Line train out of Chesham to get to Liverpool Street station and thence to Stanstead Airport to board a flight to the … Continue reading Łódź, Włocławek, Łódź, Poznań, Łódź. Part 1.
In the wonderful world of wailway modelling, sorry, couldn't resist the w w w, there is a thing (technical term) called the 60 cm floating shelf challenge, or, to give it its full title, The Budget Model Railways 60 cm x 23.5 cm floating shelf layout challenge. The challenge was issued by the chap called … Continue reading Karma, model railway style…
It's been a while since I was in Poland, a country that I had come to regard as a sort of second home, not that I'd been living in the country, but I just felt at home when I was there. I'd started going to Poland to attend concerts and continued to go to attend … Continue reading Powrót do Polski.
Before Poland, vodka was a mixed affair. Smirnoff, Absolut, Grey Goose, all the usual subjects that you'd find on a supermarket shelf, none of them particularly enticing, flavour wise, but mostly acceptable if blended with something else into a long drink. In the 1990's the girlfriend of a chap I worked with ran a pub … Continue reading My favourite vodkas. Bison, rye and lemon.
CONTAINS VIEWPOINTS AND REFLECTS THE STANDARDS,AND ATTITUDES OF A PERSON LIVING IN NORTHERN LATTITUDES.SOME READERS MAY FIND THIS CONTENT OFFENSIVE. It's awfully hot out, isn't it? Has anyone else noticed how awfully hot it is out? I must admit though that last night I had the best night's sleep that I've had for a couple … Continue reading It’s awfully hot out.
As a fresh-faced child and then teenager, I lapped up the visions of the future supplied by Arthur C. Clark, Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry, James Blish, E. E. "Doc" Smith, Gerry Anderson, and the like. Back then I believed firmly that eventually humanity would set-up homes on other planets and why wouldn’t I have believed … Continue reading To go boldly where no others have heretofore gone.
A letter to my mother. Blaenau Ffestiniog 13 - 7 - 86 I know you like getting letters, so here is one. Got up fairly late today, well it is Sunday, and went down to Porthmadog on the Ffestiniog Railway. Lots of shops open here (Blaenau) and in Porthmadog on Sundays, shopping no problem. Very … Continue reading A letter from North Wales.
A few years ago, I wrote in a roundabout sort of way, as is my wont, about the time I went to the 2019 Marillion Weekend in Łódź. You can read about it, eventually, here: Marillion, not everybody’s cup of tea. "What’s this?" I hear you say, "A Marillion Weekend? Surely that's too much of … Continue reading Radegast; a casual coexistence.
Welcome aboard, we're going on a journey… When I was 9 or 10 or so years old, the school library contained a small set of softback books about notable ships. Amongst the titles as I recall were Titanic, HMS Birkenhead, Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV. Recalling now from this distance in time is a … Continue reading Not the Chelsea Flower Show.
A Point of Views, A Polish Odyssey, and Other Stories. 