Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
What were the final words of King George V?
December 25th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In early 1936, Britain’s King George V, who triumphantly celebrated his Silver Jubilee only months earlier, lay in his bed at Sandringham House on the verge of death, surrounded by his family. Concerned with keeping his royal patient’s spirits up, the King’s physician reportedly suggested, “Your Majesty will soon be well enough to visit Bognor.” […]
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I have a theory …
December 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Now all generalisations are dangerous (even this one), but I have a theory that, generally speaking, the higher up the social scale, the slower people speak and the worse they write. The Christmas cards that I’ve received in the last couple of weeks provide strong evidence for the writing part of my thesis.
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The art of the Christmas letter
December 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Some people are somewhat cynical about the idea of a Christmas letter, but I’ve sent out one each year since 1979 [see this year’s letter here] since we have so many friends around the UK and throughout the world that we are in touch with much less often than we would like and they appear […]
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Our new roof (6)
December 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
When I did my first posting on our new roof, I said that I’d been told that it would take three-four weeks. Six weeks later, the scaffolding was finally removed this morning – just in time for Christmas. The roofers that Derek (Vee’s brother-in-law) appointed did a first class job and then went on to […]
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The Darlington Christmas newsletter
December 14th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I have spent a lot of today writing Christmas cards to our many friends around the world. As always, we included the latest edition of the famous Darlington Christmas newsletter which you can read here.
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What’s the most expensive cup of coffee in the world?
December 11th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’m a big coffee drinker – especially cappuccino – and I spend a lot of time in central London, so I’m used to paying a lot for my coffee. But today was something else. This morning, I met a colleague for a working discussion over coffee and, at the Hilton Hotel by Paddington station, my […]
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Remembering Mike Terry
December 6th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
When I was a university student, I took a year off my studies to serve full-time as the sabbatical President of the Students’ Union of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) which has now merged with the University of Manchester. The academic year of my office was 1969-70. This was a […]
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Our new roof (5)
November 29th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s the weekend; the tilers aren’t here; and, for once, there’s none of the crashing and the banging. Oh, heaven!
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Our new roof (4)
November 27th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s making progress …
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Merry Christmas?!?
November 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Today we received our first Christmas card. Can you believe it? And it only came down the road from Hove ….
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