The Appeal of Mrs Toogood

Last time out, my dad tried to say something nice about my ability to churn out blog posts when I’ve got nothing at all to write about. Well, hold onto your hat, father of mine. This one’s a doozy. Lockdown 2.0 means that I’m not allowed to make frivolous bus trips to Ticklepenny Lock until… Continue reading

Forest bathing reached a national audience this week when Chris Packham recommended it on Autumnwatch. If Chris says it works, the chances are that it does but, in the absence of other potential content, I think I’ll do a bit more research before I start recommending it to my impressionable nieces. It’s all very well… Continue reading

I really need to head off to Louth and have a look at my orchard. I’m starting to dream about predatory rabbits the size of horses and hallucinating fruit trees on every corner. Last week I found a rotten apple in the street and spent at least ten minutes scouring the neighbourhood. I was hoping… Continue reading

Last time out I mentioned that I had been considering but ultimately decided against doing a course in Creative Writing. That wasn’t entirely true. If I’m going to carry on writing, I’d quite like to learn how to do it properly. For reasons that are beyond me, Lincoln Uni offered me a place despite reading… Continue reading

I’m lucky to have chosen a hobby that is so extensively supported online. As soon as I got home from Wragby, I set about the task of identifying the specimens I had brought back with me. Easy life. My first port of call was applename.com, an online repository of apple varieties. Input your apple’s defining… Continue reading

Lockdown, amongst other things too weighty for a blog like this, has properly ruined the chances of writing almost-amusing stories about bus trips. Before Coronavirus (remember those times?), Lincolnshire Roadcars across the county were teeming with comedy locals for me to poke fun at from the safety of my ivory tower. Those days are long… Continue reading

It’s been a long time since I posted an update to this blog and I imagine the internet is appropriately grateful. However, it turns out that writing this nonsense is good for my head and is a slightly more productive way to pass my time than watching endless repeats of Taskmaster on Dave. Well, just… Continue reading

Nature, Tennyson tells us, is red in tooth and claw. Interestingly, Tennyson went to the same school as me although I think he wrote those words long after he’d left. We probably studied in the same classrooms and scrawled graffiti on the same wooden desks. We haven’t had quite the same literary success. That’s as… Continue reading