Sidelines

  • 2014: a year in photos

    2014: a year in photos

    My fourth annual video slideshow review of the year.

  • Let’s go!

    Let’s go!

    By the time he was my age, John Lennon had been dead for almost ten years.

  • A new favourite place

    A new favourite place

    A walk with an old friend on the Cumbrian coast.

  • Autumn alignments

    Autumn alignments

    Our kitchen might not be of World Heritage Site calibre just yet, but each autumn there comes a reminder that our house sits on the same spinning rock as Stonehenge and Newgrange.

  • Back-endish

    Back-endish

    How a mere week can make a big difference in the natural world.

  • The best camera

    The best camera

    My point-and-shoot camera turned out to be the best camera in the world yesterday.

  • Seeing purple

    Seeing purple

    The Moor is at peak-purple at this time of year, with the heather in full bloom.

  • Bookshelf triage

    Bookshelf triage

    When bookshelves become full, only the fittest volumes survive.

  • The nearly dead tree

    The nearly dead tree

    Each spring, I visit a particular corner of the Moor to check if an old friend has managed to survive another winter.

  • In the wilderness of Wirral

    In the wilderness of Wirral

    An unwelcome modern intrusion into one of my favourite wildernesses takes me on an unplanned medieval journey in reverse.

  • 2013: a year in photos

    2013: a year in photos

    My third annual video slideshow review of the year.

  • Hell or middle-management training? Ask Pope Benedict

    Hell or middle-management training? Ask Pope Benedict

    The former pope reportedly sees management training as torment. As a conception of hell, it makes more sense than everlasting fire.