Category: General

In time he noticed that his glass was empty and went to the bar to have it refilled. He had never been terribly interested in other women, never really been conscious of their existence. Emily had smoothly entered his life and just as gently taken over. The whole arrangement was perfect, but for some reason… Continue reading The Mouse In The Bottle, Page 2

He vaguely felt guilty at his new conception of Emily. Looking into the huge bottle, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘they’, sat complacently staring at him with beady eyes. Emily’s beady eyes, over Emily’s shapeless figure. The long whiskers twitched and he sat upright in his chair, suffused with shame and horror that he should have enlikened this… Continue reading The Mouse In The Bottle, Page 3

Several months ago I thought it had little future, as in dribs and drabs I had laid out the autobiography interspersed with comments on life today. My life now runs on strict lines, with little worth reporting. In the field of comments, it is difficult to find anything to say that has not already been… Continue reading The Future Of The Blog

The recent death of a very old and well loved friend made me examine closely my own condition, where I now have only two close, male friends of long-standing, and one is in Holland. In the 70s I was under extreme pressure and would have given anything to pack up my job, and go to… Continue reading The Sterile Landscape Of The Very Old

Going up pipes, down manholes, through tunnels, into dark dank corners, beneath the sea, beneath roads and ground, deep or shallow, in compressed air or in sludge and sewage, was ever the lot of the inspection engineer. Nature has instilled in us all an instinct for self-preservation, which translates to reactions varying from being startled,… Continue reading Fear

A few days ago I went to Belfast for the first time for several months, and was surprised to find the number of men women and children, from Eastern European countries, who were begging in the street. When you consider our Northern Ireland history, and the fact that we are an outpost of the UK,… Continue reading Identity Cards,Immigrants,Housing

Our leaders take a notion, discuss it among themselves, without consulting us at all, act on it even though it can cost billions,. There are so many instances; the greatest one of all, of course, is space travel, space stations and all those other scientific toys that the men in white coats like playing with.… Continue reading Value For Money

Having been through the religious mill, from complete certainty, through doubting, to agnosticism and finally to atheism, I am fairly aware of the different degrees of religious belief from the fanatical to the dilettante. It is therefore unwise and unfair to openly denigrate belief in whatever God, as there are those who rely on their… Continue reading Religion

How does it all add up? We have bad behaviour among the young, a tinkering government bent on flying kites instead of legislating We are taxed beyond reason in every sphere, and our lives are less gregarious. Let us look at the young. Bad behaviour could be expected, because the plight of a lot of… Continue reading In Search of Progress, 1920 To 2000, Part 4 of 4

Mid 50s to Now. The 60s psychologically, had the same effect as moving from a dark room to one with garish lighting. There were crazy fads like burning bras, a totally fatuous symbol which lasted only a very short spell. The whole aspect of clothes, hair styles especially, coloured hair and the Mohican were rampant… Continue reading In Search Of Progress, 1920 To 2000, Part 3