Category Archives: Personal

Parklife

Posted on 28 March 2013 by rpg

If you’ve ever seen my Flickr stream you might realize I’m quite fond of birds. Even here in Zone 2 there are a lot of birds around—especially in our garden. Blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, robins, dunnocks, goldfinches, wrens, … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, London, Personal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

More to a sinner

Posted on 11 December 2012 by rpg

When people ask who were my influences, I find it difficult to give a straight answer. I cannot name a childhood hero in whose footsteps I wanted to follow, neither was there someone whose guidance or mentoring I’d particularly like … Continue reading →

Posted in Ill-considered rants, People, Personal | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

On target

Posted on 9 August 2012 by rpg

I settle, relaxing all my muscles: feet to legs to bum to back to arms. I’m essentially slumped. A bit of pain in my left hand: that’s not quite right. Perhaps I just have to get used to it. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

On writing

Posted on 14 January 2012 by rpg

I’ve heard it said there’s no such thing as ‘bricklayer’s block’. The argument goes that bricklayers lay bricks, that pilots (say) fly, and that writers write. For those of us lucky enough to be paid to put one word after … Continue reading →

Posted in Me, Personal, Work | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Poppy

Posted on 11 November 2011 by rpg

It’s not about being patriotic or British—not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with either of those. It’s about those who, when the time came, gave whatever they could for what they believed in. It’s about those who died; those who … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Politics | Tagged | 6 Comments

On tits and sparrows

Posted on 25 July 2011 by rpg

Opposite the advertisement for the Grant Arms Hotel, Grantown-on-Spey (“The Wildlife Hotel”) in Autumn 2011’s Birds magazine from the RSPB, Caroline Nash tells us she’s helping to save sparrows. As you might know, sparrows—which for some of us are the … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Photography | Tagged , , , | 29 Comments

On lucky breaks

Posted on 4 January 2011 by rpg

I’ve been somewhat out of things for the last couple of weeks. I took some well-deserved vacation days and generally chilled out (even the presence of 350+ unread emails in my inbox when I got to work this morning didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Science, wibbling | Tagged , , , , , | 53 Comments

Merry Christmas

Posted on 25 December 2010 by rpg

All being well, I’ll be at Midnight Communion when this post goes live. It’s the first I’ve been to in a good number of years. It’s been a stressful time recently, what with one thing and another (getting this place … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, you | Tagged | 10 Comments