Category: That Reminds Me . . .

DESPITE its being ridiculed in a Monty Python sketch (here’s a Lego version) which led to its adoption as a term for junk mail, I have always been inordinately fond of … Continue readingIn praise of Spam

A COUPLE of months ago I described how, in October 1990, Margaret and I tried to be married in Venice but were foiled by red tape. Returning to Essex, we resolved not … Continue readingWedding night in Brighton

A FEW years ago my better half and I found ourselves for some reason on holiday in Mogan, a Toytown-type resort in Gran Canaria, when we got chatting to a … Continue readingWhales, dolphins and timeshare sharks

ALTHOUGH I was lucky to enjoy a mainly blissful childhood, there were incidents which left their scars. They happened at regular four-month intervals in the dental surgery on the end … Continue readingThe demon dentist

FOR the 18.5million TV viewers who stayed up to watch its climax, the World Snooker Championship final of April 1985 provided a drama never to be forgotten. It was between … Continue readingDennis Taylor sees double

THE first black man I can remember meeting face to face was the West Indies cricketer Charlie Griffith. Each team in the Lancashire League had one professional player and the … Continue readingBowled over by Charlie Griffith

NO ONE likes a backseat driver, that malevolent presence criticising every manoeuvre you make. Unfortunately I’m landed with a permanent one – the car itself. Our last Skoda Octavia estate, … Continue readingDriven to distraction

IN the early 1990s we were living in Barnmead Road, an enclave of Victorian houses in Beckenham, Kent. It had a strong community spirit and retained its original features to … Continue readingThe glorious golden galleon

I HAVE recently reread Blake Morrison’s award-winning 1993 memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father? and am reminded once again of our parallel lives. The book begins in the early … Continue readingWhat would Mum say?

RECENTLY I have lost a friend who has stood beside me for almost half a century. His name is Old Bob and he is a bottled beer. Bob originated at … Continue readingFarewell, old friend