In December 2009 the number one record in the UK singles chart was Killing in the Name, by the Californian band, Rage Against the Machine. It was a protest song about police brutality, systemic racism, and state abuse of power, though this story is about buying chocolate at a London tube station. It also became my favourite Christmas song.
All the things I saw, did, said, celebrated, observed or grumbled about, some of which were in Lithuania though there was nothing to grumble about there, during the final twenty-one days of June.
A couple of years ago I bought a bayonet for a Kalashnikov at a local car boot sale. It has ‘AK-47 CCCP’ stamped into the base of the blade. There’s something strangely satisfying about sharpening my pencils with it whenever I start to write. I...
I’m not always up to date with British news so I had to go googling to see what was going on. Maybe he did do wrong but I doubt if he’d have been subjected to the same level of abuse if he’d been white.
I know exactly what you mean Kat. I was on my own for years and deliriously happy. Then I met this French woman in a Bulgarian bar. She had been on her own for years and was deliriously happy. So we got on well together and suddenly we weren’t on...
It was one of my old lady punters in Bath that told me this. She spoke fluent Anglo-Saxon (and had taught it during her working life) but had no one to talk to so she picked on me. Avon is the Anglo-Saxon word for river and Afon is the Old Irish...
There must be a number of different strains of Lyme disease because I hear of people having so many different symptoms. Mine has been in no way painful apart from when the vertigo bit made me fall over a couple of times and hurt my knees.
Kat, had the boy ever heard of the Woodentops and Twizzle? In my romantic encounters that has always been the first question I have asked on a first date.
One of the greatest disappointments in my life occurred in a trendy nitespot in...
When I was a kid we weren’t really poor but we were never anywhere near to being rich. My dad (a former Irish navvy) always worked away, constantly changing jobs within the building industry and my mother worked long hours in a fruit and veg...
This is a very interesting and amusing way of looking at the climate change problems the world is facing. I hope they don't start poking about looking for minerals on the moon. There's already enough discarded rubbish up there from all those...
POD
Posted on Mon, 24 Aug 2026
And I'm really pleased that this is the pick of the day.
Read full commentPosted in A Letter To ABC Tales Friends
Iggy
Posted on Fri, 21 Aug 2026
A couple of years ago I bought a bayonet for a Kalashnikov at a local car boot sale. It has ‘AK-47 CCCP’ stamped into the base of the blade. There’s something strangely satisfying about sharpening my pencils with it whenever I start to write. I...
Read full commentPosted in Amnesty for Midgley
Shame
Posted on Sat, 15 Aug 2026
I’m not always up to date with British news so I had to go googling to see what was going on. Maybe he did do wrong but I doubt if he’d have been subjected to the same level of abuse if he’d been white.
I agree with you. There'll be people...
Read full commentPosted in Poor man
Two
Posted on Sat, 15 Aug 2026
I know exactly what you mean Kat. I was on my own for years and deliriously happy. Then I met this French woman in a Bulgarian bar. She had been on her own for years and was deliriously happy. So we got on well together and suddenly we weren’t on...
Read full commentPosted in Love in the time of Couriers
Avons of Babylon
Posted on Fri, 14 Aug 2026
It was one of my old lady punters in Bath that told me this. She spoke fluent Anglo-Saxon (and had taught it during her working life) but had no one to talk to so she picked on me. Avon is the Anglo-Saxon word for river and Afon is the Old Irish...
Read full commentPosted in That'll Be the Day
E.R.N.I.E.
Posted on Fri, 14 Aug 2026
Thank you Kat. But what was the other inspiration point? I think I’ve covered ‘early’ in the tale.
And it was definitely the Premium Bonds and E.R.N.I.E. (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) that was in the news as I slithered...
Read full commentPosted in That'll Be the Day
Wild things
Posted on Sat, 08 Aug 2026
There must be a number of different strains of Lyme disease because I hear of people having so many different symptoms. Mine has been in no way painful apart from when the vertigo bit made me fall over a couple of times and hurt my knees.
...
Read full commentPosted in The Evolution of the Lettuce
Twizzle
Posted on Tue, 21 Jul 2026
Kat, had the boy ever heard of the Woodentops and Twizzle? In my romantic encounters that has always been the first question I have asked on a first date.
One of the greatest disappointments in my life occurred in a trendy nitespot in...
Read full commentPosted in The Way We Heard: Three Coins In The Fountain (1954) (Pt.2)
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
Posted on Tue, 21 Jul 2026
When I was a kid we weren’t really poor but we were never anywhere near to being rich. My dad (a former Irish navvy) always worked away, constantly changing jobs within the building industry and my mother worked long hours in a fruit and veg...
Read full commentPosted in The Way We Heard: Three Coins In The Fountain (1954) (Pt.2)
The Moon
Posted on Thu, 16 Jul 2026
This is a very interesting and amusing way of looking at the climate change problems the world is facing. I hope they don't start poking about looking for minerals on the moon. There's already enough discarded rubbish up there from all those...
Read full commentPosted in Letter to the Moon
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