Last weekend we set off on our first camping trip in several years. We chose Alfriston Camping Park because of its proximity to Lewes: if it all went pear shaped, we could hot foot it back for a consoling snack in Bill’s. “It’s very basic,” my brother-in-law warned when I […]

We’re on holiday in Cornwall, leaving Ringmer free for Cornish tourists to visit. “What do you write in a postcard?” says my wife, as we shelter from the drizzle. Sadly she’s not asking because she needs my literary skills. No, she doesn’t see me as Hemingway in a Hawaiian shirt […]

Communication is everything these days, but there is a department within East Sussex County Council which has ‘liaison team’ as part of its title, and I think it is in difficulties.  Last year the cobble setts in Friars Walk had been reset - badly. A date which was set for […]

“I was just thinking,” said Grange Girl, “about the time I tripped up Bob Geldof.” We were sipping homemade lemonade in Baltica, spinning out the last taste of summer. Grange Girl’s words jolted me from my melancholy reverie on the futility of existence. “I’m sorry?” “He deserved it, honestly. You […]

The boys were in a lively mood: school was out and a long, lazy summer awaited them. This was a perfect opportunity to take them to the Weald & Downland Museum, about an hour and a half’s drive away near Goodwood Race course. The museum consists of 50 historic buildings […]

There’s something rather compelling about a large body of water. The ebb and flow of the river Ouse captivates me whenever I cross the bridge at the end of Cliffe High Street. Swans swim past when the tide comes in, large chunks of Barcombe float by when the tide goes […]

Two weeks ago I thought I had gone back in time and that I was in the Remove at Greyfriars School. I wasn’t - it was a full meeting of Lewes District Council. I was distressed to note that most of the matters under ‘debate’ appeared to have a foregone […]

Up until a couple of years ago we were living in Australia. Bright blue skies and endless sandy beaches just about sums it up: yes, we were living in Paradise. But somehow none of that compensated for the lack of family and so we emigrated back to England after a […]

There’s a sign by one of the allotments at Earwig Corner. ‘Manure wanted,’ it reads. It could, of course, be a genuine request from a person who doesn’t have enough manure in their life. But I think it’s a test. I reckon it’s a cunning ploy to separate the townie […]