How To Spot A Pub Is ‘Ruff’ & Memories Of LesBev

MY column the other week about ending up in rough pubs by accident, obviously struck a chord. Apparently, an unattended dog is always a dead giveaway that a pub is Continue reading →

Sea Lion Escapes In Kendal – Swims Off Down River Kent (from 1913)

SEA LION ESCAPES IN KENDAL A SHOWMAN named Reader has reported a remarkable loss to the local police. The man had a sideshow including a Sea Lion kept in a Continue reading →

The Goldfish Police And The Pet Death NVQ

“LET’S get a goldfish,” I announced out of nowhere. “They’re low-maintenance pets.” Canvassing support, I turned to the Mother Superior. “They’re very calming…. and it’ll teach the kids about death.” Continue reading →

PICS: Keswick To Barrow Walk #k2b2013

I’M full of a new respect for the Keswick to Barrow walkers today. We often hear a lot about the worst in humanity, but some of its best was up Continue reading →

Childhood Lies And The Magical Welding Fairy…

AS parents, you encourage your children to tell the truth. But it reminds you of the lies you told your Mum and Dad. The biggest childhood whopper I spun was Continue reading →

PICS: Leeds Weekender

I’VE not been to Leeds for 20 years and went on a stag weekend recently. It’s an amazing city to photograph with some impressive new buildings and colourful citizens. Enjoy Continue reading →

Holidays With Kids, Balconies, Bidets & Lift Rows

  IT’S not long until our holidays, which means it’s not long until we become good old English fault finders. There are three things we have to inspect on arrival Continue reading →

A Rift In The Coalition Over The £700 Stair Carpet

SO, there’s a rift in the coalition. We’re getting a new carpet when there’s nothing wrong with the old one. We don’t need it. It’s just carpet. It just sits Continue reading →

The Global Economic Budgie Meltdown

I’D like to know what’s being done about the budgie crisis? That’s right, the budgie crisis. Everyone used to have a budgie when they retired, it seemed. Yet when I Continue reading →

PICS: Classic Car Rally In Cumbria

THE place to drool over nearly 100 vintage cars in Cumbria today was “checkpoint 20” on The Flying Scotsman London To Edinburgh Rally. Checkpoint 20 is better known as The Continue reading →

Thatcher’s Ding Dong Song?

IF there’s a big row going on in this country, it usually has national standards at its heart.Those defending their fall versus those shoulder shrugging, asking: “What’s the biggie?” Ten Continue reading →

Are We All Terribly Middle Class Now, Dahling?

THE British Class system is alive and well, so says the BBC.  It should know. Nationally, the beeb couldn’t be more middle class if it pranged its 4×4 struggling to Continue reading →

The Miracle Biscuit With 100,000 Cures (Gazette advert, February 1885)

Perfect Health Restored Without Medicine by DU BARRY’S DELICIOUS REVALETA ARABICA FOOD AND TONIC BISCUITS! Which repair the mucous membrane of Stomach, Bowels, The Blood, The Nerves, Lungs, Liver, Brain, Continue reading →

Subbuteo v FIFA 13

IF YOU want to stop kids being overweight, they need to start making computer games rubbish again – then they’ll get outside more. I speak from experience, having become the Continue reading →

Beatle Lennon and Yoko Ono Visit Lake District Hotel (from 1969)

BEATLE LENNON IN THE LAKE DISTRICT In the Lake District this has been a week for eye-rubbing, star-gazing and autograph hunting. On Wednesday, guests and employees at the Waterhead Hotel Continue reading →

PICS: What’ll The Lads Do On (Easter) Monday?

WHEN I started this blog, I didn’t want to focus exclusively on ‘postcard Cumbria’. Cumbria is a Wonderland, but lives have been lived here, industries lost. This brings me to Continue reading →

Thousands Enjoy Skating On Windermere, Rydal, Derwentwater (from 1929)

THE GREAT FROST: THOUSANDS ENJOY SKATING ON WINDERMERE IN the north during the week-end the Lake District has been the centre of which has drawn skaters from many counties to Continue reading →

Why I Don’t Get Invited To Weddings

I DON’T get invited to too many weddings, which is good because they’ve become a bit too ‘Hollywood’ for me in recent years. Too much fuss. Too much what Mam Continue reading →

RAF Drops Supplies To Pennines Farmer Snowbound For 3 Weeks (from 1955)

OPERATION BIRKDALE – ISOLATED FARM RELIEVED AFTER having been isolated for three weeks by the heavy snowfall over the Pennines, Westmorland’s most easterly farm, known as Birkdale, at the head Continue reading →

Knocking on Wordsworth’s Door In The Lake District

A danger of living in the Lake District is having it all on your doorstep, promising to ‘do it one day’ but that day never coming. It’s been a couple of Continue reading →