Jim Webster's Blog, page 24

Emulating the graceful swan.

  It’s always said that when you see the swan, swimming serenely across the water, you never see the feet paddling frantically to keep it moving. And life is a bit like that. Today there have been times when I could have passed for a gentleman of leisure. This morning I couldn’t fill cake bins …

Pontifications on a road less travelled. The bots are alive and well

One of the problems with the internet is that there is just too much information and a high proportion of it is rubbish. And people deluge you with more. In fact they’ve even got bots to do it now. I wrote a blog post on my Tallis Steelyard blog called Garrat Drane and the case …

Spot the difference

One of the insults people hand out to builders is “He’s a cowboy.” But in my profession, cowboy is a job specification rather than an insult. Over the years I’ve worked with sheep, pigs, and a very long time ago, poultry. Indeed I’m probably one of the few people living who’s worked in a Second …

Still travelling hopefully

I had to go and see somebody on  business. Not a pleasure trip, just part of local people earning a living. The problem is, the person I went to see lives in the National Park. They’re only 28 miles away but that trip took over an hour. To be fair, the 10 miles within the …

Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – New on the Shelves for Christmas – Tallis Steelyard – Six Men in a Boat by Jim Webster

Originally posted on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine:
Delighted to feature the latest release of Jim Webster, Tallis Steelyard – Six Men in a Boat who is currently in the middle of his book launch…. sharing stories from the book on his journey. His books will make terrific gifts this Christmas About the book Instead of his…

Travelling hopefully

A mate of mine commented, “I didn’t realize how bad of a driver I was until my sat nav said, ‘In 400 feet, do a slight right, stop, and let me out.’” I must admit we don’t have a sat nav, we’re map people. I don’t just want to know where I’m going, I want …

Stick it on mow tops.

  In this case mow is pronounced ‘moo’. A mow is a stack of hay or straw in a barn. It’s just that when my father was a young man, just after the war he worked for a chap who was a really good farmer. Had a good eye for milk cows and ran a …

The view from a country churchyard

A funeral is a formal occasion rich with symbolism. Dark clad people stand solemnly, and as they leave you’ll notice that some of the faces are tear-streaked. Yet there is such a thing as a ‘good funeral’ where the stories are told and you catch up with people you haven’t seen for a decade or …

Pontifications on a road less travelled. The inexorable march of progress.

  A lady I know said, as a throwaway comment, ‘I quite fancy being part of an elite.’ Actually it’s not difficult. Anybody can be a member of an elite. You merely need somebody more deplorable than you to define yourself against. From then on it’s easy. “We’re the young, the dynamic, the future. (Obviously …

Pontifications along a road less travelled. Where’s Bobby McGee now?

Funny how things crop up. The lines of the song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ came to mind, especially the words, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” I suppose it’s my fault for staying awake during a sermon. In case you’ve never heard of the lady who sang it, Janis Joplin, I’ll quote …