Alan Russell
Bio
When you read my words they may not be perfect but I hope they:
1. Engage you
2. Entertain you
3. At least make you smile (Omar's Diaries) or
4. Think about this crazy world we live in and
5. Never accept anything at face value
Stories (243)
Filter by community
The Holiday Inn, Maidenhead, England
Due to various restrictions here in the UK because of COVID 19, “hoomins” as my great artistic friend Pegs calls members of the servant species, are unable to travel as freely as they used to. So, it has befallen to Mitzi and I to visit various hotels and prepare reviews of our visits for when you hoomins or, ”servants” as I refer to you can resume regular travel.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Wander
Nibbles to 12th May 2021
DAVID AND GOLIATH (cotd) The wine Box (David) vs Tesco (Goliath) In Nibbles (4th May 2021) I wrote about a local independent alcohol retailer having its very survival threatened. A national retailer was applying for a licence to retail alcohol from its own premises twenty metres away. The hearing with the local authority for this application took place on 4th May and extremely sadly I heard that Tesco, the national retailer, has been granted a licence.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in The Swamp
Nibbles to 4th May 2021
DAVID vs GOLIATH IN A SHOPPING PARADE “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try” JFK (Allegedly) Near where we live is a small parade of four shops. If I mentioned three of their trading names beyond the confines of Ringwood here in Hampshire in the UK people would not recognize them. That is how local and independent these three shops are. They harbour no ambitions for national or global dominance, just a desire to service the local community through sheer hard work to supply the quality of products that local consumers want. They are Belinda’s the bakery, Poulner Fish and Chips and the Wine Box. There is a fourth shop, a Tesco Express, which is owned by a national giant in the UK retail trade sector. (annual turnover 2019 £37.2 billion.) A true "Goliath" of UK retail.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Journal
Nibbles to 9th April 2021
LIFE IN THE NEW FOREST Easter Bank Holiday has come and gone. There was a dread amongst locals that with some of the COVID restrictions about to be lifted the area would be invaded by visitors pushing car parks and roads beyond their capacities.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Journal
Britain's hosts 2021 Submarine Race
This Thursday before Good Friday, after months of organizing effort by HM Maritime and Coastguard Agency, RNLI, Hampshire County Council, Dorset County Council, the Royal Navy, and NATO it is possible to confirm the world’s first “International Submarine Racing” competition.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Journal
Caveat Lector - let the reader beware to 30th March 2021
"Observation is a dying art" - Stanley Kubrick FOR GOODNESS SAKE SIR DESMOND CHECK YOUR FACTS Our local Member of Parliament, The Right Honorable Sir Desmond Swayne MP, like many of his fellow MP's publishes a regular BLOG. There is an extract shown below:
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Journal
Omar's Diary for the rest of March 2021
The last to weeks of March have not been too bad. Mitzi has fully recovered, Man Servant has recovered from his first COVID vaccination and we are waiting to see what side effects Lady Servant will develop overnight following her first vaccination late this afternoon, 26th March 2021. Hopefully they won’t be as bad as Man Servant’s reaction as he did rather suffer. Part of me thinks he may have been hamming it up a bit.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Journal
"Crawling" in Berkeley Square
BERKELEY SQUARE IN central London belies geometry and ornithology. Despite its name it is not a square but a rectangle or an oblong whose length is approximately north to south and width east to west. Berkeley “Oblong” or Berkeley “Rectangle” just lack the elegance and romance that “square” conveys. And just imagine how the song “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” would sound if was based on real geometry. “A nightingale sang in Berkeley Oblong” or “A nightingale sang in Berkeley rectangle. It just wouldn’t have worked. The romantic song about nightingales is based entirely on lyrical and ornithological licence. Over the 250 years since the square was originally laid out there have been no recorded sightings of nightingales inhabiting the square, passing through or even stopping off to do a gig for romantic couples.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in Wander
The Jurors
ON THE WAY from Staines to Windsor the road, the A308, runs between the Thames on the right and the fields of Runnymede on the left. In those fields are some big chairs clearly visible from the road. Why were they there? A place for a picnic but if so why? There were no trees for shade. Not there was any on this December day. No hedge lines to shelter from the wind. There they were, in the middle of a field.
By Alan Russell5 years ago in The Swamp
Where modern democracy started
“Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the 15th day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign (ie 1215) (Extract from the closing paragraph of the English translation of the Magna Carta held at The British Library).
By Alan Russell5 years ago in The Swamp
