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….There was Phone Phreaking A kid born blind in 1949 has a miserable childhood. At his school for blind children, he is abused by a nun, his mother pushes him to live up to his high IQ and his parents’ marriage is violent. But he has a talent – perfect pitch. Usually

Glad I saw Ken Dodd live in Wolverhampton when I had the chance. My blog from 2012. How Tickled I am As a writer, one tends to read a lot. And in a small way to help to keep my local library open, much of this is by reserving books from there. Haringey has a pretty good service but so

Shoeing Smith So what did my granddad do? Unsurprisingly: His peace time job – a shoeing smith meaning he specialised in shoeing horses – important assets in the days before cars became universal. Just as you can’t run a fleet of lorries without mechanics, the work o

Unusually, Valentine’s Day in 2018 coincided with Ash Wednesday the first day of Lent. Who was St Valentine? Best answer might be Take your Pick! as Catholic Encylopaedia mentions three of them and when alive, none of them was associated with romance. Valentine of Rome was one w

A Lightbulb Moment 10 years after inheriting the Muswell Hill Soup Kitchen, you are at a bus stop checking your mobile to see when your next bus is due and a question pops up. Could we use this technology to show a homeless person the nearest place where they can get a hot meal and so

In Debt Back from Thailand, I have no job and a couple of debts I want to get rid of. This again means delaying a career job, saving and working hard for a couple of months with maximum overtime. Simon who left the overland trip in India in order to hitchhike back to Blighty for a for

Hosted by Patent Attorneys Marks and Clerk on 23rd January 2018: Savvy Navvy As the old song goes, We Joined the Navy to see the World..and what did we see, We saw the Sea Well, Jelta Liebrand of Savvy Navvy just wanted to sail. With a lot of experience already, he and 19 other people

Coffee is Big Business being the second most traded legal commodity on the planet. Once known as The Wine of Araby and having been banned in many places over the centuries, it now employs 125 million people worldwide, with 80 per cent being produced by 25 million smallholders. Coffee&

Mother of Parliaments It’s 1969 and I finally get round to visiting our Mother of Parliaments. Can’t remember if I hitchhiked or got the train to Paddington, but my bag is searched and I eventually go up to the visitors’ place known as the Strangers’ Gallery wh