Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Our new roof (3)
November 19th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Bad news and good news on the roofing front. The bad news is that we had so much rain yesterday that the roof sprung a new and more serious leak. Water burst through the spare bedroom ceiling and cascaded into the living room. The good news is that, a week after the scaffolding went up, […]
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Our new roof (2)
November 13th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
On Monday, I blogged about the need for us to have a new roof. That morning, three guys came along in the pouring rain to erect all the scaffolding. This is what our place looks like now: What about the workers? Since then … nothing.
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My visits to the White House
November 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Seeing pictures of President-Elect Barack Obama visiting the White House this week took me back to my own visits to this most iconic of political buildings. I believe that, since 9/11, the general public has not been ableto visit the White House but, before then, I had done so on three occasions. The first time […]
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Our new roof (1)
November 10th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It started at 7.45 am this morning when the scaffolders arrived. I’m told that it will take three-four weeks – depending on the weather (it’s raining now – poor guys). I’m always so reluctant to initiate house repairs or improvements. It’s not just the cost (which, in this case, is huge) – it’s all the […]
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A busy Halloween
October 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It was a busy Halloween evening. Between 5.30-7.30 pm, the doorbell rang no less than nine times as we were visited by a total of 31 local children. Fortunately Vee had bought lots of miniature chocolate bars and filled up a plastic bucket with them, so everyone went away with two items each. Here are […]
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Waiting for Halloween
October 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
When I was a kid (which admittedly was some five decades ago), here in Britain (at the time I lived in Manchester), this time of year meant Bonfire Night: collecting material for a bonfire, building a guy, collecting money for fireworks and then – on the night itself – the bonfire, the fireworks, toffee apples […]
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Snow in London
October 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, it snows rarely. Indeed we can go a whole winter without snow. But tonight it’s snowing here. I can’t remember when it last snowed in London in October. Footnote (29/10/08): I’ve lived in London since 1971 and never seen snow here in October. Today’s media advised us that this has been the […]
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Seeing Sarah Silverman
October 19th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This evening, Vee and I – together with our American Jewish friend Eric – went to see a show at London’s Hammersmith Apollo by the American Jewish comedienne Sarah Silverman. The British – and here I include myself – have really only just discovered Silverman. It probably started with her video called “The Great Schlep” […]
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Are you a ‘to do list’ person?
October 4th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I’m an inveterate – possibly even compulsive – ‘to do list’ person. I think that it all started with my university studies when I kept lists to ensure that I completed all my projects on time and had a good revision timetable for exams. These days, I still do my daily ‘to […]
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Earth from the Air
September 21st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Today Vee and I drove over to Oxford to see our dear Chinese friends Hua & Zhihao (and their new teenage lodger Jiayu). They live close to the city centre so, after a home-made Chinese lunch, we walked around to Oxford Castle where we found a photographic exhibition called “Earth from the Air”. Now, five […]
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