AfD, UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) What else? These are some relatively new political parties in our two countries. There are also other groups trying to become recognised political parties. The old original parties seem to be losing attraction for our younger generations. Even within these parties there are big disagreements. For example, the British,
Read More‘I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils;’ At this time of the year, in Britain, it is easy to see crowds, or hosts of daffodils. Daffodils are completely yellow; not to be confused with the
Read MoreMy mother was born in Wales. My father was born in England. My elder brother was born in Wales. I was born in England. How do I class myself? I am English and I am British. England does not include Wales and Scotland. Britain (GB) includes all three countries. If we want to include Northern
Read MoreThe subject of my last blog seems to have created a mind–set in my thinking (day dreams?). It leads me on to romanticise about cold, dark evenings and a winter fireplace in the lounge/living room. What a contrast, when we come into our house, shivering from the cold, or dripping wet from the rain, and
Read MoreWatching TV is not my favourite past-time, although of course, I watch it sometimes. I can watch German TV (via satellite) if I choose to. Comparing German TV with British TV can be very interesting. Often, news programmes have completely different priorities in their presentations. The inclusion of English words in modern German seems
Read MoreNowadays there is so much attention given to sport on TV, radio and in daily newspapers, that there is one particular word which we hear time and time again. The word is ‘score’. In most sports, making a point against the competitor, is to score a point against the competitor, or a goal, etc., depending
Read MoreYesterday afternoon, my wife and I entertained an American man and his wife in our house, here in Oxford. It was a very pleasant afternoon – the Americans were friendly and well-spoken. My wife prepared a typical English cream tea for them. How did all this come to be? After our return to England from
Read MoreSunday morning; late getting out of bed. While still in bed, I heard the sound of church bells ringing, from an Oxford church. At the same time, I realised how different this sound was, to the sound I had heard frequently, during my many years in Germany. There, only one bell, or perhaps sometimes two
Read MoreMy house overlooks a large area of playing fields, so I can see little children going to the local school in the mornings. They don’t hurry. But in the afternoons coming from the school, they can’t run fast enough. Then there are the adults, jogging around the fields. All this running brings lots of life
Read MoreAt a recent open-air meeting of people of various walks of life, I got into conversation with a police inspector. At the end of our chat about things in general and police life in particular, he offered his right hand, which I took and we shook hands. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing unusual, you may say.
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