Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
A wonderful example of Czech irreverent humour
July 31st, 2013 by Roger Darlington
My wife Vee and I have just returned from a long weekend (four nights) in Prague where we were attending the wedding of a dear friend. It was my 24th trip to the Czech Republic, largely explained by the fact that Vee is half Czech. We have seen all the sights so many times so, […]
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How diverse is your community?
July 24th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I often think that how one sees the world is coloured – if you’ll forgive the pun – by how one’s community looks in terms of diversity or ethnicity. I live in the Northwick Park Ward of the Borough of Brent in the city of London and I have recently seen census data for the […]
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The Royal Family has a new prince but the Darlington family already has a princess
July 22nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
The latest picture of my granddaughter Catrin
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“So, what exactly do you do, Roger?”
July 19th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I am regularly asked this question, but it is not an easy one to answer. Since I took early retirement from the Communication Workers Union 11 years ago, I have not have a full-time job, but I have had a changing portfolio of appointments in the field of consumer affairs. You can check out my […]
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Sometimes I think that Britain needs a revolution
July 15th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Here in Britain, we are experiencing a heat wave – mild by the standards of many other countries around the world, but temperatures that are unusually high and consistently so for us. So, in London where I live and work, most days recently the temperature has been around 30C (86F). Now I normally wear a […]
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My meeting with the British Member of Parliament for Kurdistan
July 8th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I’m thinking of taking a holiday in Iraq. Not immediately but perhaps in the spring. Not to Baghdad but to the Kurdish north. So today I was at the House of Commons to see my friend Gary Kent who is the Administrator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and has […]
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Family birthday reunion in Leicester
July 6th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
My sister always ensures that the extended family is brought together at least once a year – usually around Christmas. This year, however, we have a summer of birthdays with a ‘0’ or a ‘5’ in the date, so today she convened an extra gathering at her home in Leicester. The weather was brilliant. But, […]
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My latest short story: “The Storyteller Of Damascus”
July 5th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
It’s six months since I wrote a short story, but this week I crafted my 30th. It’s called “The Storyteller Of Damascus” and you can read it here. I’ve had the story in mind since I visited Syria just over two years ago and I was prompted to write it now by the news that […]
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My introduction to the Great War
July 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
For my recent birthday, some friends gave me the box set of the groundbreaking 1964 BBC series on “The Great War”. There are 26 episodes and I have already viewed six. As I watched these pictures of the outbreak of a war that the Germans planned would last a mere 40 days, I was reminded […]
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Have many books have you read?
July 1st, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Today, I started reading a long book: the near-600 page work entitled “A History Of The World” by Andrew Marr. In his Introduction, he states: “I calculate that around two thousand books, never mind pamphlets and journals, have been read for what follows.” As I have kept a diary for 50 years, I know how […]
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