Hiraeth (Here-eyeth) is one of those words in Welsh that doesn’t have a specific equivalent translation into English. The nearest you can get is ‘Longing for one’s home’ and frankly ‘Home-sickness’ really doesn’t come up to scratch. An example I remember being told of was an aunty of mine who had married and moved to […]
When I was employed in the building industry, we were made very aware of the dangers of asbestos in buildings. Whenever it was discovered, it had to be removed by licenced contractors using specialist equipment. The alarming thing was that in its day it was hailed as a ‘wonder material’ and can be found in […]
One of the many things I have inherited from my Dad (along with baldness) are some of the things he says. The one that I have noticed recently is saying ‘Right, let’s have a look here’ before commencing some job or task. I can see him now uttering these words as he stood with the […]
There is some truth in the saying ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ When I first met my wife Penny she was working as the events coordinator at St Pauls Cathedral in London (you might have heard of it – big Wren building with a dome!). This in turn allowed me the […]
We seem to live in a world where everyone is distracted in some way shape or form. How many of us have laughed at seeing a person walk into something whilst absorbed by their phone screen – the irony being that we have more than likely viewed it on our phone screen! There is also […]
I once heard a joke about a rather disreputable individual who died. The person who was asked to give the eulogy knew full well the character of the man and was suitably wracked with dread as culture dictated that he not only tells the truth about the deceased but also say something positive. Telling the […]
As you might know I hold a train driving licence. It was a very long hard slog to learn all the rules and regulations and ultimately pass my test to be allowed out on my own to drive passenger trains. During the practical side of this training, I was trained to drive during the dreaded […]
One of the many words of wisdom my Dad has passed onto me was this: ‘Just remember son, civilisation is only skin deep.’ So, what did he mean by that? Basically, because of his study of various wars throughout the centuries, what he meant was that the ugly side of human nature isn’t very far […]
As some of you might have gathered, I currently am working in a supermarket, it’s not what I’d planned to be doing at this stage of my life, but it appears to be God’s plan at this moment in time. One of my jobs is working in the bread aisle. The thing that has struck […]
Recently when I was out for a walk I saw a caterpillar (it’s a lime hawk moth if you are interested) inching its way along the road and quite oblivious to the fact it could get squashed by a passing vehicle at any moment. So I decided to do my bit for nature and put […]
