I’m pretty sure that Monday is the traditional clothes washing day. Apparently we can thank the Victorians for this practise, which had the advantage of offering the household plenty of time throughout the week for the drying, pressing, folding and…
Year: 2019
Preparation, then anticipation . . .
For a Sunday homily, I guess I can do worse than to ruminate on the conjoined concepts of ‘preparation’ and ‘anticipation’. But it feels like I’ve been looking forward to harvesting these potatoes for years, rather than the usual months!…
Allen Mill — a walk’s half-way point maybe?
The big reveal, facilitated by the North Pennines AONB in the Allen Valleys Landscape Partnership, funded by the Heritage Lottery (2013-2018), opened up the remains of the old smelt mill so that the place became re-imbued with a kind of…
Catton Village Fair
The weather auguries are good, this year, for Catton Fair. As I recall, from happy memories of a delightful perambulation around the stalls scattered all around the green, the Fair is such a pleasant surprise. It all felt quite informal,…
Mains water and sewage . . .
The diary entry today owes its provenance to several comments and notes: i. Our own challenges with our private water supply and sewage system; ii. Peter Armstrong’s comment about dealing with the waste after the Sparty Lea Poetry Festival; iii….
Allendale Golf Club . . . a match in the wild
According to the website of Allendale Golf Club, there’s to be a Seniors Match between Allendale and Bellingham at home to Allendale, today, if enough members from each club can be recruited. Apparently the required five pairs from Allendale are…
The compulsion to fix things
I saw, maybe a month or so ago, news in Allendale area notices of a repair clinic over at Nenthead, where folks were encouraged to bring their domestic items that had stopped working, for a bit of attention from other…
Click-bait, gaslighting, going viral . . . these new words!
Apparently, photos of cats being cute are the most clicked items in all of social media. Not that we’re looking for a viral response here today amongst the regular daily entries of Allendale Diary or anything, just saying. . ….
What is it about older folks and wild birds?
I suppose the wild bird thing isn’t exclusively the territory of older folks, but it’s certainly a truism that the two somehow go hand-in-hand. I wonder why that is? On Father’s Day, it does feel fair to wonder why ageing…
The River Path
In the first of a new Saturday series featuring free activities to enjoy throughout the Allen Valleys, based loosely around the activities described in the Allendale and Allen Valleys Pocket Directory, Joan Morgan writes about her love of Allendale’s River…