Author Archives: Barrybloke
In the summer of 1999 we had a lovely ten-day holiday in Malta. The weather was so hot as to be almost unbearable, so much so, that as we went to step out of the aircraft at Malta Airport, the flight attendant warned us that it would be like stepping into an oven! She was […]
During my time at the Marley Tile Company, I met a very pleasant man, by the name of John Himbury. He came from South Wales, where he had been a keen rugby player. He was now living in Sevenoaks, Kent, which is very much in London’s commuter belt and, it has to be said, a […]
When I was a child I lived in a road known as Craven Estate in Orpington. This road was ‘not adopted’, according to a footnote on the nameplate, which meant that, like many others in Orpington Urban District, it was not surfaced and maintained by the council. The surface was very rough, with a plentiful […]
Back in the 60s I had a strong interest in all things aeronautical and Lee and I spent many a happy hour beside the runway at Gatwick, where one could sit close up to the chain-link fence and have an uninterrupted view of arriving and departing aircraft. There were Dan-Air Ambassadors, Viscounts, Comet 4s, B.A.C. […]
We have attended many airshows in the past thirty-five years and have witnessed many momentous events. Several were of considerable aeronautical importance, some were frightening and some amusing. In September of 1972 we were sitting on an open grandstand at Farnborough, when the announcer called the attention of the crowd to the next exhibit. “If […]
One of our favourite areas, in our caravanning days, was the beautiful and spectacular Elan Valley, in mid-Wales. The river Elan has been dammed at several points near the town of Rhayader, in order to provide a water supply for Birmingham. The resultant lakes have enhanced the already lovely countryside and provided scenery to equal […]
A neighbour, mother of two primary school children, was in the habit of walking them to the local school each morning. She often had trouble getting them going for the 9 o’clock deadline and was very concerned that they should not be late. One morning, in her frustration, I heard her shout at them “If […]
We have in our bedroom a really attractive and useful bedroom light, which also has alarm clock and radio functions. It is about twelve inches high, overall and has rather the appearance of a mushroom. At the top is a white, hemispherical, translucent plastic shade, which imparts a suitably diffused light to the room. The […]
Hair
By Barrybloke | July 18, 2011
Some years ago, when I was in my late fifties, I was in the habit of having my hair cut by a young woman who used to come to the house for the purpose. One evening, when she was attending to my reasonably decent crop of hair, I remarked that my father had been bald […]
It was 1994 and we, Susan, Myself, Lee, John and Sarah were on holiday in the area of Rastenberg, in what had been, until not long before, the communist state of East Germany. There was considerable reconstruction under way, but it was very obvious that the area was years behind the west in many ways. […]