Is it cheaper than store-bought? — I guess it began during the train of British Covid lockdowns. While we put life on pause, waiting to see how bad the forecast pandemic shortages would become, I looked to develop more self-reliance. Like many others, I started baking bread. It’s the family joke that my loaves can be…

Six Word Photo Story Challenge: Freestyle — When life offers cabbage, make Sauerkraut I have an autoimmune disorder, sub-clinical Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism. For the uninitiated, the thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck and is the main controller of both metabolism and the immune system. It needs to work well. Mine doesn’t. I suspect I haven’t been feeding it properly…

February Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Love & Hearts” — Sanctity of Snowdrops stir the soul. There is nothing better to swell the heart than to see snowdrops coming into flower in the dreary first days of a British February. Spring is on its way! It was, though, a close-run thing this year. A tiny lone aconite, tucked into a hidden corner, managed to unfurl its…

There’s nothing like easing the mind while lighting the imagination — Early January is my time for winding down after the festivities, of recuperating walks along the beach, of reading for pleasure rather than work, and viewing any likely movies that catch my eye, all aimed at allowing my blood pressure to ease and my stamina rebuild for the coming year…

January Six Word Story Challenge: “Hometown Pride” — Hull — the birthplace of Chip Spice! Okay, stop laughing. First, let’s settle what a British “chip” is. It’s not a deep-fried wafer-thin potato “crisp”, nor does it have any resemblance to a stringy “French fry”. A traditional British “chip” is a potato peeled and cut into batons about as long and as fat an index finger…

A cheery smile can change your day — and theirs. — Yesterday morning, across a busy street, I saw a lady I recognised. I’ve no idea of her name, or where she lives; somewhere in my neighbourhood because our paths cross occasionally. In the past we’ve exchanged smiles, sometimes a Good morning, sometimes a quick chat about the weather. I’ve never…

Is this a Sustainable Plan or a Virtue Signalling joke? — I have been wrapping the final Christmas gifts and the task has proved less than joyful. In fact, it left me seething. Most people want to do their bit in cutting back overuse of the planet’s resources. Food is not thrown away in this house, it is eaten; clothes are…

It depends on where you live. — I had to smile when I read an interesting piece from Clive Thompson In Praise of the Hot-Water Bottle, which he’d sourced from deep in a cupboard when he fell ill. Here in the UK, hot-water bottles are in every shop imaginable — the traditional flat rubber bottle, the mini…

November Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Collecting Smiles” — Jurassic Park in an English Garden While on holiday, it is interesting to walk the area around our hotel to see how the locals live, to spy what they grow in their gardens, to follow ginnels and snickets and other pedestrian shortcuts between lanes hardly wide enough to park a car. The oldest part of this…