A wee bit late with this but the little people have returned to school for another term. Except some of them aren't little any more. Ava has now joined her big brother and sister at high school. Is it any wonder I've so little hair ..read more

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  Photo: Mike Smith A couple of years ago, in happier days for stage and theatre before Covid-19 struck and the world was plunged into dark times, there was an excellent stage production - A War of Two Halves - staged at Tynecastle Park, the home of Edinburgh’s oldest and biggest football club Heart of Midlothian. With lockdown restrictions eased somewhat – for now – the team behind that excellent production is back with another breath-taking piece of theatre. And again, the setting is Tynecastle Park. With a highly talented nine-strong ensemble, Sweet F.A. written by Paul Beeso ..read more

Back to school for the gang earlier this week. I wish their teachers well...   ..read more

Embra cooncillors: What can we replace this monstrosity with?                                                      How about this....?   ..read more

  Winning, working women won’t you hear what we’ve tae say We work our hands unto the bones for a quarter less in pay We started our own football teams and showed them how to play But when we ask for equal rights we’re given Sweet F.A.   1916. The men fight on the Western Front. The women work in the factories, and form football teams, playing other factory teams across Scotland and raising money for the war effort. Women’s football fast becomes the most popular game in the land. Worried that their game is starting to rival the men’s, the football authorities ban the women’s game in ..read more

  The effect of lockdown on one's mental health is intensified at times you would usually share with family and loved ones. I commiserated celebrated the beginning of the final year of my fifties on Friday but the usual family gathering was prevented due to lockdown rules in Scotland as a result of the Covid pandemic. These technological times, however, meant I did get WhatsApp messages from my three of my five grandchildren (the youngest two still being a wee bit young for that sort of thing) and these highlighted it isn't just me who is getting older. Jack, who will be 16 in a couple ..read more

  Cancer - and my name is Larry.....Mmm... take my hand Come with me, baby, to Love Land Let me show you how sweet it could be  Sharing loving with me On Valentines Day, the present Mrs Smith and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. I say celebrated but we were stuck in the house thanks to lockdown meaning most places are closed. Flicking through the interminable number of trash tv channels, we stumbled across Now 70s which was dedicated to cheesy love songs, many of which I've tried to forget for the last 45-50 years. One such song was Float On by, er, The Floaters. Part of t ..read more

Lockdown means I ain't half missing these little blighters....   ..read more

                 Image from Daibhidh Stevenson's Facebook post We keep hearing from politicians that there is hope in the fight against Covid-19. With vaccinations starting to be given and this process set to accelerate as 2021 begins,  they may be right (although there are few politicians I really trust) But what about the other side of the Covid coin? Lockdown has impacted on society in a way I feel those same politicians don't want us to know - or won't allow us to know.  So when the figures are published on a near daily basis on the n ..read more