Two London Hospitals

St Mary's, Paddington

University College London Hospital

But he wasn't to be found at either. Where is he gone?

Out of picture

The picture shows his brothers and sisters. I presume as the oldest he took this picture. The narrative is his...

"After our evening meal we children took turns doing the washing up. Mother joined us in the kitchen to cook a fresh supply of soda bread. Baker's yeast was scarce but the recipe for soda bread also caused the dough to rise in the oven. She brewed regular supplies of ginger beer and dandelion and burdock drinks. She made the drinks from a 'starter yeast' that had been kept alive with sugar for as long as I can remember. It was still necessary, five years after the war, to obtain a child's green ration book to be able to obtain two eggs, double the weekly ration for adults...."

Just very everyday stuff.

"...On my first contact with other soldiers I was put off by some of their less attractive behaviour, such as drunken brawls, bad language, and boasts of promiscuity. However, after joining in their sports and writing letters for them we became good friends. They were also respectfully quiet when I knelt to pray by my bed..."

Then

"I'm just listening to the football commentary (Malawi vs Cameroon) and he's just said, "The clouds are looking heavy but we know God is with us so it won't rain. But if it does rain we'll accept it as one of God's blessings..."

Finally

He is not in the picture. Where is he?

Not the Lord Mayor's Parade

The Lord Mayor's Parade was making its way down a rainy High Street, but I've seen that just too many times. Instead I went to see the Oxford Castle Mound getting remade.

and Bonn Square getting a massive makeover. These events will not be repeated in my lifetime.

Oxfordshire Artweeks - Oxford

Some understated art at the Oxford Saïd Business School. Images in CD cases. The sheep was my favourite.

Meanwhile at St Marys University Church the back pulpit was decorated with tree etchings.

Stone Face

One of the many stone faces of Buscot Park

Barrow

We went to stay with my wife's family over Christmas. This quaint looking fishing boat is at a quay near the Dock Museum in Barrow.

Just over the road is a large Tesco Extra with two wind turbines, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut, and the BAE Systems shipyards. Inside they are building new submarines.

Some of the old Dock cranes are still around, and functioning, alongside a Morrisons Supermarket.

Muncaster

Window in Muncaster Church, Cumbria

Albury Manor County Secondary School, Merstham

Our school coach used to bring us from Bletchingly and Nutfield and drop us at the school gates. The boys' playground to the left of the school was surrounded by high wire fences to protect the windows. The only football allowed was with a tennis ball. Sometimes the ball would get kicked onto the flat roof above the cloakrooms or into a garden area, and whoever kicked it would try to retrieve it. If caught they would be taken in by prefects or staff on duty and sit outside the headmaster's room.

Our Headmaster was Mr Jones - known as Taff because he was Welsh. He was strict. He made headlines in the Sunday Mirror once for making all our year scrub the toilet walls after somebody had made black marks all over the new paintwork. Two boys from Bletchingly refused and were expelled.

I saw fights that shocked me in my first year. Whenever a fight broke out pupils would chant 'fight fight fight' and gather round. The staff and prefects on duty would usually haul the culpits to the headmaster.

I remember an incident on that patch of grass on the right of the picture when the coach was late. Some of the others had taken my bag and were throwing it from one to the other. Failing to get the bag I went for one of the throwers and we went tumbling to the grass. I remember falling awkwardly, and then the rest of the group jumped us.

I hobbled home after getting off the bus. At the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill I told the doctor that I tripped over a kerb. It turned out not to be sprained as usual, but to be broken. So back at school a few days later I had crutches and a plaster cast and some car tyre as a sole

An American in Paris

The picture was taken by my wife on a recent trip to Paris.

Riddlesdown

I somehow took the wrong road out of London , and as it was a nice day I just kept going through Brixton, then round Croydon, knowing the road must lead to the M25. But even then I lost the way, and by chance came to a beauty spot called Riddlesdown, where the road came to an end.

Here sheep were grazing in a quiet clearing and I sat to watch them for a while.

This far out on the Surrey Downs the dog bins are owned by 'The Corporation of London'. I didn't realise London stretched so far.