Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Happy 150th birthday to the London Underground
January 7th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
For about 30 years, I travelled on the London Underground every working day. For the past decade as a portfolio worker, I have continued to use the tube – as everyone calls it – an average of three or four days a week. So it is a big part of my life and that of […]
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Our plan to ascend the tallest building in Western Europe
January 6th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just booked to take Vee to the top of The Shard in London on Valentine’s Day. At a height of 1,016ft (310m), this is the tallest building in Western Europe. Should be fun!
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New year … new diary … old eccentricity
January 1st, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I have managed to keep a diary for every day since I was 13. So I have now clocked up a total of 18,626 entries and I am just about to start my 52nd diary. As this article suggests: “to write a diary for any extended period is an exceptional and eccentric act”. The article […]
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New Year’s Eve with Catrin
December 31st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
This afternoon, Vee and I at last caught up with Rich, Emily & Catrin who have been visiting various relatives over the festive season. Catrin will be two in less than three weeks, but meanwhile opened still more Christmas presents before we all went to Gabriel’s Wharf on London’s South Bank for lunch at a […]
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My latest short story: “This Life Business”
December 31st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
I have not written a short story for exactly a year – too many part-time appointments have kept me very busy in 2012. But I want to keep my hand in, so I’ve used the festive break to craft a new story – my 29th. It’s called “The Life Business” and I’ve had the idea […]
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28 short stories – and counting …
December 29th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In the summer of 2009, I set myself the challenge of writing five short stories. In fact, over the next six months I wrote 16. Since then, I’ve crafted more and the total is now 28. I know that the Christmas/New Year is a busy one for many people with little time to read a […]
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How was your Christmas?
December 25th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Ours was great. This year, all of Vee’s family came over to us: her twin sister Mari and husband Derek, their sons Martin and David, the sons’ wives Isobel and Sharon, and Martin & Isobel’s children Yasmin (7 later this week) and Lucas (4). So 10 of us sat down for lunch of turkey with […]
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How to think critically
December 17th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
For the third consecutive year, my permission has ben sought – and obviously given – for my website essay on “How To Think Critically” to be used on the Junior Military Officer course at the United States Naval War College. If my advice is good enough for the American military, you might want to check […]
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Preparing for the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One
December 16th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
This week, I visited the Imperial War Museum in central London to view an exhibition of photographs taken by Cecil Beaton during the Second World War. I found that most of this fascinating museum is closed for major redesign, starting with the opening in 2014 of a new section on the First World War to […]
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The Darlington family Christmas letter
December 14th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
So the Christmas tree is up, almost all of the Christmas presents have been bought, and most of our Christmas cards have been posted. Each year, we compile a family newsletter to include with the cards to people of whom we have seen little of nothing in the previous year because of time or distance. […]
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