30 March 2025 : I've set up this Blogspot account to post photographs instead of using Instagram - for a whole host of reasons! All of the Instagram content has been transferred and it's unlikely that I'll return to that platform.
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As previously reported BST (British Shorts Time*) remains in force with just five exception days so far.
Friday 4 September 2026 saw another exception for dinner to celebrate a relative's eightieth birthday - drinks and then dinner at a Warwickshire gastro-pub.
A splendid evening was had by all!
. . . but, of course, not a tie 😀
* subject to any unforeseen circumstances I should get to 25 October when BST ends without resorting to long trousers.
My "follower" will be aware that we have a bit of a thing about bears . . . .
Well, many years ago at a branch of Decathlon in France we saw some tiny tents that were used to show off how the different full-size tents looked when they were erected. The examples, with a footprint about 30cm square, were really cute and just perfect for a bear's recreation but sadly they weren't for sale.
I stumbled across some miniature tents, complete with zipped door and a flysheet on Amazon - two of the bears are now very happy chaps.
The primary purpose for a birthday treat was to see Paddington the Musical at the Savoy Theatre but it morphed into three days and some interesting visits.
Having taken the train we checked into a Z Hotel (excellent) and then traced Burlington Bertie's footsteps along The Strand to visit the King's Chapel of the Savoy with the stunning ceiling, stained glass and plaques representing hundreds of Knights of the Realm.
Paddington was just enchanting, following his arrival into the Brown family and then paralleled the original Paddington film (the one with Nicole Kidman as the evil taxidermist).
The effects, with a person of small stature in the bear costume and with a singer and puppeteer operating the facial expressions, were amazingly realistic.
Next morning it was a Thames Clipper to Battersea Power Station and to ascend The Chimney. The lift pops out of the top of one of the chimneys for 360 degree views - you can see it in the photograph.
Spectacular, but the building interior is just a very up-market shopping mall.
The lower photograph shows the large white tentage at the Chelsea Flower Show
From there a Clipper ride all the way down-river to Greenwich and a couple of rides back to the hotel on the DLR and Underground.
Dinner was at the newly re-opened Simpsons in the Strand - very traditional setting and food (Daily Telegraph readers and men in red trousers!) An excellent dinner.
. . . and then on Friday morning the National Portrait Gallery before the train home.
British Shorts Time starts again as the clocks go forward an hour. Continuing the challenge to wear shorts every day of British Summer Time 2026.
I achieved an almost 100% record in 2025 - as I type I do know that there will be a long-trouser day on Easter Sunday and a couple more in May for a trip to London (shorts are frowned upon at The Savoy Theatre) . . . watch this space.
Looking for something else I found a "bank cash-card" from the late 1960s!
The card, same size as today's bank cards, has holes punched in coded to the owner and could be used to withdraw £10 from a machine outside a bank. The cash (IIRC 1 x £5 and 5 x £1 notes) was contained in a plastic sleeve. The card was retained by the machine and returned in the mail to the user a few days later. More than £10 - you asked the bank for an extra card(s)
.oOo.
I looked up some detail on a banking history website:
Early cash withdrawal cards, introduced in the late 1960s and 1970s, often used punched-card technology to store customer data and authenticate transactions. These early "cash cards" allowed customers to withdraw a set amount of cash, £10, from early ATMs, with machines retaining the card for processing.
Key Features of Early Punched Bank Cards:
Technology: These cards used a series of punched holes (often called "chads" or "chips" when removed) to store identifying information.
Use Cases: In 1970s Britain, a user inserted the card, entered a personal identification number (which was not yet widely called a PIN), and received cash, with the machine keeping the card to be returned by post later.
Rarity: These cards are considered collectors' items
I have had an issue with my left foot for about 5 years - some sort of ligament or tendon has "fused inside a tube" causing my foot to collapse. After some scans and a few injections the experts decided that it's not anything that's operable, so a mechanical solution is needed.
I have had numerous visits to the SWIMS (South Warwickshire Integrated Muscuskeletal Service) department at Leamington Hospital where I've been fitted with orthotics (shoe inserts) that have been built-up progressively to the point where I now have a permanent pair made from dense polypropylene. Hopefully they will make walking as comfortable as it's possible to be.
The progress over almost two years with heels slowly increased (l-r looking at the undersides) to support my left foot:
The squirrel was somewhat taken by the excitement of snow-boarding 😀
A sliver of timber waste from the table that's work-in-progress.
We've just booked a birthday treat in May . . . involving a bear, a duffel coat and a suitcase.
Staying at a trendy Z Hotel near The Savoy theatre - just hope there's marmalade for breakfast!!
A new acquisition for the kitchen in the form of a "baguette baking tray" - the very simple method is to create a wet, sloppy dough, prove it, place strips in the corrugations and bake.
Baguette tray from Amazon
First bake (by my wife, not me) today achieved an excellent result (chicken, stuffing & cranberry filling - shared for lunch) - the lunch baguette didn't have the "added value" seeds.
I saw this on a YouTube channel - Nicky & Harri - a young couple turning an unloved bungalow in Berkshire into a two-storey home, doing most of the work themselves. The daily baguette making and sandwich fillings being a feature of the excellent content.
In March I set myself the challenge to only* wear shorts everyday during British Summer Time - i.e. from the end of March to the end of October.
Decathlon "Forclaz" lightweight shorts in grey - I have three identical pairs!
The challenge was pretty much achieved with just two short (!) exceptions:
1 Easter Sunday family lunch (approx. 7 hours in trousers - spousal pressure prevailed)
2 A friend's funeral in late September (approx. 5 hours in a suit and tie - an outfit not worn since my brother's funeral in October 2023)
--
* as in "not long trousers" but otherwise clothed normally!
Update to post - click: Cotswold Airport - part 2
Looking through some old photographs I found one of me (aged 20) in the actual seat in the Britannia in 1968! It's the last row on the port side of the aircraft - my father had the window seat.
My (only) 4 year-old Motorola has, annoyingly, reached the end of its upgrade path at Android 11 - several of the apps I use including the VOIP phone system we now have don't work. The battery life also seems to be fading with the charge level falling rapidly.
So, a Samsung with Android 15 arrived from John Lewis - with a bit of a bonus. The phone was listed with a £20 discount for MyJohnLewis members . . . at the checkout I entered the offer code and the price dropped by £50! - made an immediate payment!
The increased discount was very strange, I can only assume that it was perhaps because I haven't used the My card for probably 8 years and they were welcoming me back?
Next step is to transfer the old phone content to the new one - should be simple, and a new case has been ordered.
A holiday in Nice enabled me to fulfil a bucket-list item - namely flying from London City Airport in Docklands.
The aircraft was a British Airways City Flyer 106 seat Embraer 190
The take-off was VERY steep and banked immediately to clear the tall Canary Wharf buildings - landing was another matter on a day (15 September 2025) with 40+mph gusts of wind . . . on the first attempt the aircraft was blown too far down the very short runway and the landing was aborted at about 20 feet off the ground to climb rapidly, make another circuit and then land. Interesting!
Anorak time: London City Airport holds the position of 81st in the number of airports/heliports that I have flown from or to - from a first flight at Southend in January 1958.
The photographs are stock pictures from the Internet.
I've had a few people ask about the photographs in the header graphic - they are (l-r):
Front door of a Georgian house in Dublin, near Trinity College, in 1996
On my new tricycle at our house in Wanstead, in what must have been 1952 or 1953
Riding in France during the trip from Calais to Montpellier, in 2008
The travelling coffee machine in its case, 2024
Michelin clock/cupboard, 2024
Restaurant in Havelock, New Zealand with a plate of mussels cooked 5 different ways, in 2024
When we were in Essex a few weeks ago I bought a packet of the rather special buns to keep in the freezer until today. They taste just as good as they did all those years ago!
*back in the day they sold them "loose" from large trays - all packaged nowadays.
Another photograph from one of the London nostalgia websites I follow - Ferrari's Cafe in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton E10
When I worked and lived close by I used to have my lunch there every Saturday - always the healthy option of sausage, egg, beans and chips with a cup of tea - sometimes an apple pie and custard to follow 😀
The Royal Edition was a special edition of The Times newspaper that was printed every day for libraries and royal palaces. It was printed on high-quality paper and was published from 1917 to 1969 - it was printed "full size" and also as a miniature version, size 160mm x 115mm.
The front page is the "new" format with news on the front page - before May 1966 the paper carried small, lineage advertising on the front page.
I was given this copy when I did a tour at The Times (on 11 April 1967!) one night. These editions are now an interesting and rare collectable item. The text is remarkably readable for such a small page size.
(I do have a copy of the pre-may 1966 version somewhere - if I find it I'll post the image)
Some woodletter, poster type -amongst the last printing related items I had. Over the years I've used letters to make signs and nameplates just as art-pieces.
