We all have regrets, some have more than others, but all in all there are not many regrets in my life. There are times when something doesn’t go the way you hoped for, but looking back you realise it was not a problem because it put your feet on a different, better path. Even atContinue reading “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention”
Category Archives: journalism
Last minute hitch on house deal led to a far better home
Many of you will remember 1977 as a busy year, it was Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee as monarch; the Yorkshire Ripper was still on the prowl; National Front marchers clashed with anti-Nazi protesters in London. Meanwhile Marion and I had moved our little family to North Wales, Anglesey in fact, and as I was settlingContinue reading “Last minute hitch on house deal led to a far better home”
This trickle, once a torrent, will be in full spate again soon
First of all please accept my apologies that instead of the torrent of new posts for this New Year, 2025, it has slowed to a small stream, if that. The past few months have not been as smooth as I had hoped but I am not here to wallow in my sorrow. There have beenContinue reading “This trickle, once a torrent, will be in full spate again soon”
Beginning a brand-new adventure still going strong half a century later
We all have those times when we make a decision and then suddenly realise we have made a commitment which requires a great number of actions in a very limited time. The first time Marion and I faced such a situation was in the first half of 1977. I had been offered a reporter’s jobContinue reading “Beginning a brand-new adventure still going strong half a century later”
A year of delight at home again in my beloved country
I left you all dangling in the first half of last year after I quit the glamorous (on the surface) life of a London cinema manager and moved our little family from the South East of England to the North West of Wales. I was back not only in Wales but in the job IContinue reading “A year of delight at home again in my beloved country”
Give me a notepad and a typewriter and I’ll be as happy as a sandboy
Precisely four weeks after calling Tom Roberts, a director with newspaper publishers NWN, based at Oswestry but covering border counties and North Wales, I was sitting in a room which had a cupboard, desk and chair and on the desk was a typewriter, a telephone, – I could have been back in the Holywell office, aContinue reading “Give me a notepad and a typewriter and I’ll be as happy as a sandboy”
Spring in my step as our little family goes back to my root
As I left for work the morning after Marion and I had made the decision that I would give up the cinema life and return to the one job that I had always been proud of – that of a journalist – I felt a new spring in my step. The previous day I couldContinue reading “Spring in my step as our little family goes back to my root”
Up sticks and we’re heading home to the land of the Red Dragon
We talked a lot that Sunday, the love of my life and myself. The point is that anything I said involved convincing myself that I would not just hop from job to job. I had responsibilities. I had a family. It was my darling who put her finger on it and broke the deadlock. AsContinue reading “Up sticks and we’re heading home to the land of the Red Dragon”
Walking into a lion’s den and out again with a smile on my face
The blue plaque on a building in South Street, Mayfair, which was once the headquarters of the Rank Organisation. It was a delight to pick my old Morris Minor up and it didn’t take me long to drive from Colchester to Basildon where I was greeted by the three young ladies in my life. Sarah,Continue reading “Walking into a lion’s den and out again with a smile on my face”
A brief break in my old haunts then home again, home again, jiggity jig
After the tour it was a change to have a good Sunday roast with my parents and a very comfortable bed to sleep in that night, but no rest for the wicked, as they say, not that I consider myself wicked of course. Bright and early Monday morning, well not long after 9am, I wentContinue reading “A brief break in my old haunts then home again, home again, jiggity jig”
Robin's Nest 