Thursday September 1, 2022

  I confess to a fascination with the history of Heaton and the areas journey from small, outlying farms to the current vibrant urban landscape. During the centuries, Heaton must have endured crimes that would horrify today’s hipster café society. From the 13th to the 17th century the Border Reivers would have made life challenging […]

Tuesday August 16, 2022

A friend of mine translates German tourism websites into English. The task goes beyond simple translation. A German may say “The view of the mountain is excellent”. We Brits are more nuanced and may say “The mountain, in the sunset is sublime”. Translating the website of a camping site in the Black Mountains, my friend […]

Saturday July 2, 2022

Most of us can be proud of our generation tag. Baby Boomers got to see all the good bands. Generation X raved the night away in a muddy field. Generation Y gave us much of our technology. So why does journalist India Knight describe Generation Z as “Generation Mummy’s Little Sausage”? Harsh judgement on an […]

Monday June 13, 2022

After a hard day at the house face, I like to spend twenty minutes watching the evening news. Well, you can’t be happy all the time, can you? So, I need a TV license. Fair enough. The Solutions Architect and Change Management Lead at the BBC are not going to pay themselves. Having become thoroughly […]

Saturday May 7, 2022

There is good news in the post for leaseholders as legislation comes into force to remove some of the most outrageous abuses of this legacy arrangement. ‘The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill’ has received Royal Assent. So from June, new leases will no longer be allowed to charge Ground Rent. The old ‘peppercorn rent’ has […]