Is it just me, or do other people, when they go back on visits to the place that was home for most of their lives, find it difficult to see that place in any other shade than the sepia of nostalgia? [Read more]

Still a week to go before I actually go on leave, but I am in holiday mood.

Very difficult to concentrate on work, but I shall manage, I think. On the other hand, this period of enforced work focus will be followed by two weeks of NO work, hooray, so I guess I can spend the next six days gazing earnestly at my computer in the light of the reward that will follow. [Read more]

So elections once again. State elections this time, and I don’t have much time to figure out where that vote of mine is going to go.

I’m always traumatised at election time. My days of innocence are long gone. I take nothing at face value any more. I’ve written about this before here, but that was only about the national elections. [Read more]

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve had nothing new to read. That’s because I took a look at my bookshelves, realised I had these books because I wanted to keep them - i.e., presumably I had thought that they’d be good to re-read - and figured, what the bleep. Let’s avoid the bookshops for a bit. Let’s re-read. [Read more]

Some time in the 1300s, Robert the Bruce claimed the throne of Scotland and fought the English for it. He lost a battle, became an outlaw and almost gave up his claim to the throne, when something happened that impelled him to continue the fight. [Read more]