Now what? — I was surprised to see the reaction from my two daughters, at the news of the Queen’s death. I asked my twenty something year olds why they’d posted, what seemed to me to be tick box condolences? Weren’t they just following a need-to-be-seen-doing-the-right-thing trend? After all, the only twinge of…

The inventor who understood climate change — James Lovelock, courtesy of times.co.uk A few weeks ago, James Lovelock died on his birthday. He’d done rather well, making it to 103. Apart from living to an extraordinary age he was also an extraordinary scientist and chemist, famous for inventing Gaia theory with the US biologist, Lynn Margulis. Gaia…

August 2022 return — When we first moved to Notting Hill, we didn’t think much about Carnival Weekend. It wasn’t that we were avoiding it, as some of our neighbours and nearly all the shops do. …

Who’s winning in the 1.5°C global race? — Courtesy of The Times There are 6 renewable energy sources available on planet Earth — sun, wind, hydro, geothermal, bioenergy and the ocean. To achieve net zero and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C, …

Heatwave and hose pipe bans — a real reminder segued between the news? — Raychel Sanner, Unsplash Starting this week’s letter, the sun has gone, replaced by a menacing uniform, dark grey sky. More rain is forecast. Lots of it. A stark contrast from the Costa-Del-Sol weather, we’ve all been enjoying, or not, for weeks. I’ve started asking people I meet on the golf…

Childhood memories — Author still on a bike I stared intently into the drive where I’d once lived 40 years ago. My constant journeying with our fledgling business had finally taken me back to The Wirral. It was bound to happen at some point. I’d even decided to stay local that evening and…

The master at playing dead — Pogo on the stairs. There’s a ball in that cavernous mouth somewhere. The home phone call last week, while on holiday, wasn’t entirely unexpected. Situations, minor or otherwise, rarely go unreported. Today it was Pogo’s turn. Not so minor. He couldn’t or wouldn’t get up. …

Why did I stop? — Cycling holiday in France I was trying to work out the other day when I last slept in my trailer tent and what happened to end that pastime? My memory had been assaulted by a bright, tangerine coloured sleeping bag, dumped on the hall floor, before it magically vanished again…

It’s far more helpful than cannabis — Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash Occasionally, I read something which really excites. My first reaction on discovering the history and super-plant properties of hemp (sometimes called industrial hemp) was to wonder why we’re not growing it everywhere? Hemp and cannabis plants are the same species, but legally hemp only…