THERE’S nothing like revisiting an old friend. So much forgotten pleasure to be derived from taking giant steps back to the very early years. In so doing we revive  experiences that only now are revealed and recognised for their formative effect on so much that followed. As a youth, I voraciously and randomly devoured almost any reading matter that came my way. There was no distracting television and the radio offered little beyond the news, the daily brief excitement of Paul Temple‘s nail biting adventures and late night horror tales spun by the sonorous voice of Valentine Dyall (aka The Man… Continue reading

Eddystone Light today with the unyielding base of the old light nearby. (Picture: Rupert Kirkwood) AS far back as I can discover, the patriarchal side of my Celtic family has always had close links to the sea. It has brought them employment, skills and opportunities. But also uncertainty, hardship and sudden death, in peace as well as in war. They include shipwrights, blacksmiths, mariners, tidewaiters, missionaries, lighthouse keepers, fishermen, Customs officers, gunners, stokers and deckhands. Their homes have rarely been more than a brisk walk from the shipyards, docks, wharves and moorings where they worked. Even those who broke the… Continue reading