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There is a great scene in Blackadder Goes Forth about the causes of WW1. Baldrick says “ The thing is, the way I see it, these days there’s a war on, right? And, ages ago, there wasn’t a war on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away, right? And there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is – how did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs? ” And Blackadder replies, “ Do you mean why did the war

Regular readers may recall that when we arrived in Aubeterre in late August, Richard and I spent some time doing a deep clean of the main parts of the house. A lot of that involved wiping spider poo off various surfaces, and it did look nice when we had finished. I then read the papers, and discovered that September is the month when spiders mate, certainly for British house spiders. I have to say that in my experience, this does not apply to French house spiders. These littl

No, not that one! I never really enjoyed history lessons at school. Maybe it was the subject matter, maybe the teacher. Anyway, I dropped the subject at 13 years old, before ‘O’ level. But now I love history and would have loved to study it more. I never really had (i.e., never made) the time, when I was working. I’m sure that my experience is not unique. It’s one reason why I think that some education is wasted on the young. They are also often simply too young to appreciate

Part of the troglodyte settlement of La Madeleine, by the Vezere river. Despite being Welsh, I was not blessed with a particularly good singing voice. And yet I love to sing. When I was little, I really wanted a guitar, but I never had one. I have a recollection of my father telling me that you have to be able to sing to have a guitar. That anecdote might be a false memory, and if so – sorry Dad! I sing along to anything: 80s pop music; hymn; songs from Ed (Stewpot) Stewart’s

[Update 27.09.2021: Elena has just confirmed that boat will be ready for launch next Monday, October 4. So we will fly out from CDG to Sardinia on Saturday. Yay!] Keel propped up, showing eight still shiny and healthy keel bolts. About 10 days ago (September 15th), Elena responded to our gentle enquiries. First the good news: she has given birth to a baby boy, who they have named Alberto. As well as photos of the bambino, she also sent us some pictures of Missy Bear’s operati