Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Aleppo: then and now
January 30th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Aleppo in Syria is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world with origins dating back to the early second millennium BC. Until recently, it was a thriving urban community of some 2.3 million. Today it is a city ravaged by civil war. Less than two years ago and just a week or two […]
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The Munich Agreement and my short story
January 23rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading *The Killing of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich” by the late historian Callum MacDonald which was published in 1989. Reading about the betrayal of Czechoslovakia in the Munich Agreement of September 1938 reminded me of a short story I wrote several years ago set on the eve of that agreement. You can […]
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A snow man, a snow dog, and a very lifelike snow girl
January 22nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
That one in the middle looks just like my granddaughter Catrin
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A winter wonderland throughout Britain
January 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, it started snowing about 8.30 am and only stopped in mid afternoon. The whole scene is now a magical icing of white. I know that almost all of Britain is now under snow – while friends in Australia are struggling with temperatures of more than 40C. In spite of the snow, I […]
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At last … I obtain the iPhone 5
January 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I must be the only person in Britain who has used the original iPhone for more than five years. I took possession of the iPhone 1 on 13 November 2007 and it has served me brilliantly ever since. I have looked after it and someone in my local O2 store called it “immaculate”. But, for […]
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Beware the next destination of the Darlingtons
January 10th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
As regular readers of NightHawk will know, Vee and I are enthusiastic travellers around the world. However, in recent years especially, we have had a habit of visiting places which, just before or just after our time there, exhibit troublesome events of either a meteorological or political nature. What do I mean? In June 2001, […]
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What a diarist chooses to record on a particular day
January 8th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
This is the time of year when people start a new diary and one finds references to diaries in the media. Since I have kept a diary for 51 years and never missed a day, I’m always interested in the subject of diary-keeping and I was really amused by this letter in the “Guardian” newspaper: […]
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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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