Jim Webster's Blog, page 16

Leotards, drumsticks and doughnuts

It has to be remembered that I live a comparatively quiet life. Or try to. But then every so often things get out of hand. This is normally because I’m in the right place at the wrong time. Like this evening. Our town has a foodbank. It’s really well run and the community support it …

The sartorial elegance of the labouring classes.

It has to be confessed that I am not a snappy dresser. One of my daughters once commented that she didn’t know anybody who could wear a suit and still give the impression he wasn’t wearing a suit. Admittedly I don’t wear a suit often. I was once working as a self-employed consultant for an […]

And now for a cardio workout

I finally got round to doing a job that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. By a while I mean more than a year, in fact probably a decade. Where the garden meets the lane there’s a wall and long before I was born somebody build a raised bed against it. The issue …

Speaking to my inner anthropologist

Yes I do know it’s New Year’s eve. Even if I wasn’t on social media, I’ve still got access to a perfectly adequate calendar. It has to be confessed that I’ve never made a big deal of the New Year. Having been the one who was up at 5:30am for thirty consecutive New Year’s mornings …

Wheeling smoke in a barrow

  One of the tales my father always told was of back when he was in his teens and farm workers would work for a ‘term’ (summer or winter) and then after the term was up, he’d either sign on again with the chap he was working for or go on to the next fair. …

Head transplants!

I read an article in the paper today where a researcher was saying that he reckoned we’d probably see the first successful head transplants in ten years’ time. Actually he suspected it would be head and spinal column transplants, as they would probably make more sense.   https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...   The problem is, I’m not merely …

Working with livestock keeps your reflexes sharp.

At one time I used to buy a few calves. I’d get them from all over the place purchasing them off people I knew. I’d also buy them in Ulverston Auction Mart. The ‘calf ring’ was in a separate building and the buyers would stand round the ring and bid for the calf as the …

Burning down the village to save it

There are all sorts of ethical dilemmas. Like the chap who went to the supermarket, paid for his groceries in cash and as he went out discovered that the cashier had given him a £20 note in his change when she should have given him a £5 note. This presented him with an immediate ethical …

Whistling in the dark

The other morning I ended up getting up earlier than usual start. I had to be in Penrith for not long after 9am. So this meant that I was doing various things an hour before I normally do them. So 6am found me feeding a small group of three heifers. They’re still outside so I …

What happens in school stays in school?

Teaching is my families other profession. My mother, sister and various cousins all taught for a living. So by adding their memories to mine I’ve seen schools evolve from 1948 to now. The world my mother entered is probably unrecognisable now. At teacher training college after the war, the college held one dance per term. …