When I was young we had several very happy holidays in the North East. We stayed with some friends of my parents in Felling near Gateshead and ventured around the beautiful Durham and Northumberland countryside. I can remember seeing Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance as we travelled along the coast road, all I could see…
I always find this time of year particularly challenging because of the shorter hours of daylight, poorer weather conditions and the colder temperatures. Being paid to travel around the beautiful lanes of Norfolk is an absoute delight during the warmer months, but at this time of year road are prone to flooding and potholes lurk…
Sometimes I wonder where the time has gone, I took my first driving test in March 1976 which means that it is almost fifty years since that momentous day, I had longed to learn to drive from being young and had my first lesson in my dad’s three wheeler van on my seventeenth birthday. I…
The Grimshaw family took delivery of our first ever television in 1972, it was a rental set from the DER shop in Pudsey and even though the signal left a lot to be desired we were connected to the delights of BBC1 & 2 and ITV and our lifes changed forever with this wonderful new…
When the glorious day came when my wife was due to come home after being in hospital for just over nine and a half weeks, we were told that a care package would be put in place and we would have carers visiting our house four times a day. My heart sank, my last experience…
If you have ever considered the idea of taking up either surfing, or windsurfing, I thought that you might appreciate a bit of advice before investing in a board, wet suit and all the gear you will need. Not that I have even touched a surfboard in my entire life, nor am ever likely to.…
One of my prized possessions when I was a child was my 1960s Corgi Austin A60 De Luxe Motor School Car. I think that I might have received it as a Christmas present when I was about seven or eight years old. My brother had an identical car, so I am guessing that they were…
It was quite a bitter pill to swallow having to come home from holiday on Saturday, 23rd August 2025, because my wife was in such pain with her legs. I know that makes me sound like a dreadful husband, but we had looked forward so much to spending a fortnight in our beloved Yorkshire, catching…
We had a holiday in North Cornwall in the summer of 2022 and camped just outside the lovely seaside town of Bude, we had spent holidays in this area when our girls were younger, so it was one of those holidays of revisiting some memorable haunts. We mooched around the shops in Bideford and saw…
Sitting in my study a few days ago, I heard a clicking noise that I couldn’t identify, looking around I spotted a little green bird standing on the windowsill and tapping on the window with his beak (sorry, my new little friend might be female of course) regardless he was a beautiful little chap with…