A juicy tale on menu

IN transit, as part of the machinery of the system, I was in this hospital for one night only. In the morning a lady came to the door of the little room and asked me: What would you like for breakfast? I said: Since you put it like that – scrambled egg... » MORE

Finger points at you

A MAN named Ron told me this, thirty-three years ago. He was a musician in a circus. He had a passion for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and when I stayed with the show he d call out verses to me each time we passed: The moving finger writes and, having w... » MORE

Sacking on the cards...

ON deciding to leave a job forthwith, the phrase was Gimme my cards , sometimes elaborated to cards and coppers . What cards? They were the Unemployment Insurance and Health Insurance cards which, before the NHS, every person working for a wage or salar... » MORE

A grey matter area....

ABOUT forty years ago I met a country vicar who wore bright-coloured socks. A relative of mine being one of his parishioners, I learned of something else he did. Well-heeled parents sent him their sons who were not up to scratch academically; and in the v... » MORE

Problem U can picture

HERE is a slightly hair-raising scene from seventy-six years ago. Boys of nine or ten, on their own, hung about outside cinemas beseeching unknown adults to be their companions, take them in and sit in the dark with them. It was an outcome of the newly-in... » MORE

Booked in for credit

READING and hearing about the present crunch , my thoughts go back to the notice which was displayed in small shops throughout the land: Please Do Not Ask For Credit As A Refusal Often Offends. It seldom meant what it said. In boyhood errands (six years... » MORE

Kept in high spirits

I SUPPOSE it would be called a brown field site in my road, although the brown surface is mostly under old mattresses, bin bags and general rubbish. It is where the corrugated-iron spiritualist church was. That closed a few years ago. Dossers got in, and... » MORE

Waiting for the money

GOES around, comes around. As in the days of Continuous Performances, an eye-opening scene is presented and my thought in a moment is seen this bit before . It was a news story two or three weeks ago – the revelation that tips given for waiters and waitr... » MORE

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