Captain Flack & Company.......

Many – many – years ago, as a summer job, I did some administrative work for the West Midlands Fire Service. As work experience goes, it was pretty dire but one long lasting legacy was that it left me with a deep and abiding respect for fire fighters. More than any other emergency service they seem to be regularly in danger and we can all sleep safer in our beds for what they do for us.

Notwithstanding this…….

Memo to the Leicester Fire Brigade…….

If you’re going to act up and show off with your big red fire engine on a non-emergency call by interferinge with me trying to do my job:

(1) Don’t choose me. I do repartee for a living

(2) Don’t choose me when I’m with a SPICE group; they tend to join in and play along and

(3) If you’re that bothered about references to Trumpton, you’re probably in the wrong job.

Clerkenwet!

Last night I did an evening walk in the lovely, atmospheric Clerkenwell area on London. It’s a genuinely fascinating area, home to such varied delights as the New River (not new, not a River), the Finsbury Health Centre, Saint John’s Gate and some K4s and K6s thrown in for good measure.

But oh, what an evening for weather! It just just bucketed it down for the whole two hours and the legendary Ian Jelf Umbrella was actually of practical use for once. Now, despite our country’s reputation for bad weather, this is actually a surprisingly rare occurrence I find on walks. Traditionally, I recall two such occasions, one in Rugby and the other in the Moseley area of Birmingham. But this one definitely goes up into that category, I’m sad to say.

Luckily, I had an extremely tenacious group whose desire to learn more about the place left me staggered!

Thank you, dear member of SPICE Adventure London!

Modesty Forbids!

We went to a SPICE Birmingham Turkish Bath evening last night. While relaxing in the Laconium (look it up!) someone said to me that he’d recently been on a town walk around Warwick “with a chap who was a professional tourist guide" and who "was really interesting”.

Modesty forbade…….but someone else told him instead! :-))

Sincere praise if nothing else, anyway.

From Good Day to Bad Day

Long day today but a very enjoyable one.

I did a panoramic London tour today for a mostly American group. (Memo to self…….don’t do irony, it’s not transatlantic.)

Then this evening I had a two hour walking tour of Maidenhead of all places. It’s not superficially a town to promise much but in fact it’s a thoroughly enjoyable place to show to people. Happily, it was a really responsive group, too. When I hear someone saying “I’d never thought of that before” or “I come this way all the time and I’ve never noticed that” it makes everything, the preparation, the travelling, the learning, all worthwhile. It made me feel just great.

Off to Oldham tomorrow (Thursday) for Grahame’s funeral. He came down here to see us marry; we think it’s the least we can do to go North for him one last time.

Oak Apple Day

It's Oak Apple Day today, Charles II's birthday and the anniversary his restoration to the throne in 1660. Bign news in Worcester where they decorate the front of the Guildhall with oak apple blossom (or at least they used to).

Staying with matters vaguely horticulatural, I've had to replace four fence panels in the garden today. I knew I should have enrolled in that "Fencing for Beginners" thing that SPICE Birmingham ran a few weeks ago.


That (and loads of very dull paperwork) out of the way, we had a barbecue tonight. Good to see the patio furniture getting some use at last. (Not that I think we have a "patio"; I grew up calling it a "yard" but Louise insists.......)


Early start tomorrow as I've jobs in London and (on Sunday) Oxford. Coincidentally, they're both for different SPICE groups, so I'm happy to acknowledge SPICE London and SPICE Thames Valley as regular and much appreciated users of my services!


I bet I'll be the only bloke in London tomorrow carrying an umbrella.