Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve been trying to pull together some family history stuff to try and see what use farming folk in in the late nineteenth century made of the railways in rural north east Scotland. (digitised 1920 Ordnance Survey map of St … Continue reading →

There’s a genre of Australian crime fiction known as ‘outback noir’. And, since I discovered that my local library was stuffed with outback noir books, I’ve read rather a lot of it as my bedtime reading to help me turn … Continue reading →

When I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I really did. I remember that when I was about eight we had a school inspection and one of the things that the inspector asked kids to see if they … Continue reading →

Like a lot of people I became interested in the whole retro photography thing during the pandemic, but I’ve got to admit that while I’ve had a couple of false starts, I really havn’t done much with it. I’ve some … Continue reading →

Following on from my post about why Roman ghosts were not a nineteenth century thing I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what was mentioned in English language newspapers in Wales about a single  Roman site … Continue reading →

This morning I came across an article on the CBC on the theme of how despite the pervasiveness of e-readers, sales of printed books are booming, and how while older readers preferred e-readers the prime readership for printed books was … Continue reading →

I’ve been a bit lethargic the past week or so, it’s been hot and sticky in the afternoons, with intermittent showers that bring little or no relief from the heat, meaning that I really havn’t done any work outside in … Continue reading →

Normally, when you start with family history you begin by building a family tree stepping back via your parents, your parents siblings, your parents’ parents etc, and along the way you might find some interesting tidbits, like the time your … Continue reading →

Yesterday. I tooted a news story from RNZ about how a nineteenth century vibrator had turned up in charity shop in Nelson. Now when anyone mentions vibrators, one does tend to think of sex and sexual stimulation, but this wasn’t … Continue reading →

When we first visited Bologna back in 2003 the airport was a small regional airport, and you got there by bus from the city centre. From memory the driver put your bags in the storage area for you and the … Continue reading →