My Dad (1)

 (I wrote this in March 2006)

  My dad was a clever man. He was witty and intelligent and he loved to play games. As long ago as I can remember he used to play postal chess. Each player would send their moves and on receipt the chessboard would be set up and all the moves so far would be played out. Then the recipient would add the extra move, decide on his response and send that move back to his opponent. It was a simple set up and most players had several games on the go at any one time. I know my dad seemed to have letters galore pouring through the door every morning. But although the chess was a big part of his life his real love was draughts (chequers) and one time he won the Essex championship and earned himself a medal. But draughts wasn’t half as popular as chess and so most of his games were of chess.

   When my dad sent his chess moves on to his opponents he wouldn’t just write his moves, he would add a friendly letter and he made many friends that way. Eventually, the chess club grew and soon there were annual meetings and tournaments etc. They also produced a magazine. The magazine would show the latest league tables and add a few lines of interest. And then, one day, they added a letters page. Well, this was right up my dad’s street and he contributed regularly to those pages. Eventually, he was asked to be editor of the mag and, with the help of my mum, who acted as club secretary, ran it quite successfully for many years.

   Many more years later, although he still played the postal chess, he took up some other postal games. There was one called Football manager whereby you have to buy and manage your own team. He even started his own league and a magazine to go with it which, again, met with a fair amount of success. He also liked to play Dungeons and Dragons. So why am I telling you all this? Well, you see, it’s my opinion that although he loved to play these games, half of the fun for him was in writing about it, either for the accompanying magazines or simply swapping letters with other players. In the game of dungeons and dragons you have to pick a team of adventurers to go into the caves to find gold and rescue princesses and also, presumably, kill dragons. The team might consist of a dwarf, a cleric, a magician, and elf etc. Each had specific talents and powers so it was important to get the balance right to make a good team. A dungeon master would preside over the teams and each player would send instructions to the dungeon master telling him what actions the team would take. For most people ,this would be a simple list such as: “The dwarf throws his magic axe at the head of the dragon and whist it’s distracted the rest of the team sneak by and rescue the princess”. The dungeon master would then throw his multi-sided dice to decide the fate of the team.

   But here’s where it all got interesting for my dad. He didn’t just have a dwarf and/or an elf, he had real characters. He gave them daft names such as Tuffus Le Custard and Thickus De Shortplanks. He didn’t just tell the dungeon master his moves he created a whole story around it all. He even gave his characters different traits. One might be a bit of a coward and let everyone else do the fighting. Another might be a grump and moan at every opportunity. So you see, it wasn’t just the games that appealed to him it was the whole shebang. This was my dads world and he loved nothing better than to sit at his typewriter for hours on end making up stories and situations for the various games magazines he was involved with. He wasn’t content with just taking part in the games. Usually he would end up running a show of his own and having the players all writing to him. And he would always try to produce a magazine with all the league tables in it along with some amusing anecdotes.

  That was why, when he eventually retired from work (thirty years in the Romford brewery) we bought him a copying machine. My dad was over the moon with it, despite the fact that it was a huge old monster of a machine that survived on vast amounts of ink, a lot of stencils and much noise. For the next few days he dabbled and clanked and swore his way through the manual and the various controls and then, just three days later, surprised us all. As a thank you to us all, his first production from this beast was a modest four page magazine called Spanner. (So named because it was widely thought that my dad was a bit of a nut.) In this magazine he wrote about the day of his retirement, the surprise party we held for him and how overwhelming it all had been. To this he added a few more anecdotes, and a joke or two.

  Well, the family all loved it and encouraged him to do another. This he did and then a third. But by this time he had other plans. He wrote in the third edition that it needed the help of other writers otherwise this happy little venture wouldn’t survive. Imagine his surprise when he got several pages through the post within the next week, all for inclusion in the next edition. When the fourth edition rolled off the press it had been renamed ‘The family magazine’ and consisted of no less than twelve pages, only half of which were written by my dad. And that is how the family magazine began. (That was way back in August 1984 and here we are in 2006 and I've just produced the 64th edition.)

 

  Since those early days we have progressed greatly. No more the whump, whump of the big cylinder spinning round on the printing machine. No more the messy ink covered stencils that stank the house out and seemed to stain every piece of clothing my dad possessed. From those humble beginnings the mag was transferred first to a word processor and then, later, onto a real computer. These days the work is carried out on my own pc (dad died in the year 2000 and I have since taken up the roll of editor) which sits neatly on my desk in my den. No noise to speak of, (apart from that darn noisy fan that I still haven’t sorted yet!) No more bottles of ink to be messed around with and no more stencils. I use desktop publishing software that allows me to move text and images freely on the page with the minimum of fuss, and a good quality printer that makes little noise and produces good quality pages every time.

 

  But I have my dad to thank for my writing. His own writing was an inspiration to me, it was open, honest and usually dead funny and his character, with all it’s flaws, shone through in almost everything he wrote. If it hadn’t been for his encouragement I would never have written anything for the family magazine, would never have learned to goof things up and, in all probability, would never have had the nerve to write this online journal.

 

  So now you know who to blame.

Wednesday 28th October 2026

  Twenty years ago, I wrote that! But, of course, it's still as true today as it was back then.  This was only one side of my dad and when I wrote it all those years ago, people left comments after they read it. Most of theose comments said things like: 'He sounds like a wonderful dad', and. 'You must be so proud of him' or 'You obviously loved him and it shows in your writing'.

  When I read those comments I was very confused because I had never once considered myself to be proud of him,I guess I loved him, but I wasn't really aware of it until I read those comments. For a long time I didn't even think I liked him. The point is, those comments hit home a little and stirred me into writing a second entry about my dad just a few weeks later. I'm not going to include that entry here but I will have to post it  at some stage, the image of him wouldn't be complete without it.

For now though, 

Toodlepip.

B. x

Here’s A Funny Thing…

  Remember, I mentioned that I used to write a journal once before? Well, here’s a funny thing, earlier this week, I came across an old backup hard drive that I used some years ago. My brother used to work in computers back then, although his skill was with mainframes rather than PCs. Even so, he knew more than me about the tech stuff and when he suggested, very strongly, that I should get a backup drive for my important files, I did so without hesitation. That was way back around 2004 or somewhere close. I backed up all my files on a regular basis as he advised. But, over the years, as technology moved on I stopped using my desktop PC so much. I had long since needed to back up any files and most of my computing was done via my laptop or my tablet. The only time the desktop PC was used was if I  needed something printing since that was the only PC connected to my printer. The backup drive had been long since forgotten about until this week when I came upon it in a seldom used stationery drawer. I brought it downstairs and connected it to my laptop and, lo and behold, I came across my old journal entries all backed up and saved as word files. Wow!

  Well, of course, I couldn’t help but take a look could I? And what a rabbit hole that turned out to be. I started that journal in January 2004 and kept it going for more than four years. The journals were hosted by AOL in those days and it was quite popular at the time. I made a few friends back then in what became known as J. Land. We would read each others journals and leave comments as we went. It was very communal and enjoyable. So, this week I’ve been preoccupied with those old entries and haven’t gotten around to adding to these pages.

  It was interesting looking back at my writing style, although, I don’t think it’s changed very much to be honest. At least, I hope it hasn’t. More interesting than my entries though, were the comments people would leave. It was such diverse range of people, which, of course, led to a very diverse range of journals. And it was good fun. I even met up with one or two of the writers once we’d gotten to know each other well enough. We holidayed in Devon one year and while we were there we met up with a lovely lady called Jayne who had a great journal called Single Girl. She  loved the colour pink and even drove a pink sports car. Fun times for sure. 

 Now there is a reason for me telling you all this. First off I will tell you I have decided that these pages are now definitely going to stay open to the public. In my very first entry I confessed to a side of me that felt it ought to be kept private. Well, since reading some of those old entries and the comments that were left, I now remember how much fun it was interacting with those writers and reading their journals. So I’m staying public. Another thing  I discovered was that I wrote entries about my family. Today I read through my entries about my mum and my dad. My dad actually had two entries to his name. And, the thing is, since this is a new journal it wouldn’t hurt to give those entries another airing. I mean, everything I wrote then is as true today as it was then. So, I think, the next entry, should you choose to read it, will be about my dad.

  In the meantime then, what have I been up to? On Monday Andy and I went to a local smallholding that’s held by one of our friends and we bagged up a load of manure. We took it straight to the allotment and spread it about the plot. We’re hoping to get some more before the winter sets in.
 

  Today I was taken out to lunch by my good friends Liz and Andy. What’s more they paid, so it was twice as tasty. It was a pub lunch just a short drive away in a pub called The Aspen Tree. It was your standard pub fare but they do it very well and it was a bit delish.

 

  Yesterday I went for an eye test and ended up taking out a mortgage on a new pair of glasses. Tomorrow we’re off to the allotment once more. There isn’t much to pick now as the season is almost over. But there’s some maintenance to be getting on with. Dirt needs digging over, apple tree and plum tree need pruning as well as some general 

weeding. 

  That’s pretty much all for this week. Most of my spare moments have been taken up with reading my old journal entries. There’s a lot more on that hard drive too. I used to belong to a writers club on AOL and a few of us would swap short stories on a regular basis. There’s also some poetry but I think that will be way too soul baring to include in these pages. There are a lot of old snippets of information, cartoons, quizzes, jokes etc, which I used to use in my family magazine. (Have I mentioned the family magazine? I don’t think I have. Oh well, all will be revealed eventually.)

  For now tho, cheery-bye.
  B. x

Waffle & Whinge.

  Well, looky loo, I’ve changed the name of the blog. I liked Twilight Tales but in all honesty, I’ve always preferred Waffle and Whinge so I’ve been toying with the idea for a while. Then the other day I searched for Twilight Tales on Google and there were hundreds of results, maybe more, I didn’t count them. But I was a little disappointed to think the title was so common. Waffle and Whinge, on the other hand, didn’t have any significant results. There were lots for waffle and some whinge, but nothing specifically for waffle and whinge together. I like that little bit of  individuality. So I changed the title.  

  Incidentally, the picture with the title is a photograph I took some years ago. It’s a lake in South Weald Park which is a short drive from where I live. It was taken at around 6am on one of my more enthusiastic photo jaunts. When I was more involved in my photography I used to take photos of chimneys. Somewhere along the way I noticed that there were some very ornate and adventurous chimney styles out there and I started looking out for them wherever I went and before I knew it, I had a hobby on my hands. I have chimney pics from all over the place. So okay, it isn’t the most riveting photo collection you’ll ever see but I had fun taking the photos and, really, isn’t that the aim of any hobby - to enjoy it?

  When I started blogging all those years ago it was a popular pastime. Not so much these days thanks to Twitter and Facebook etc. But there were lots of blogs around and some revolved around photography. These were great for me as they often set assignments and they were fun. The topics would be quite varied. One week it may be night photography, another week it may be portraits or even trick photography, sometimes it was just a colour or maybe a shape. There were never any prizes for  the best images, it was all for the enjoyment and it was great in encouraging me to get out and use my camera more.

  I was a postman at the time and I was used to getting up in the early hours for work. So, on my days off I would quite often take my camera out at 5am looking something to photograph. Sometimes I would visit a place several times at different times of the day or even different times of the year. But the light of the early morning is my favourite time for photography, as that top photo will prove. Reet could never understand that I would get up so early on my days off to go out when I’d had to get up early all week. But I figured that if I could get up that early to do something that I HAD to do. Why wouldn’t I get up early for something I wanted to do? 

  During my more enthusiastic days of photography I did a couple of weddings for friends. I didn’t charge other than for the film and developing. One of those weddings took place in snow and if you know about photography you will know that all that whiteness can mess with your light  metering. I kinda knew how to overcome it but since this was a wedding I was terrified that I’d mess up. I reckon I was more nervous than the bride and groom on that occasion. Thankfully though, the photos turned out okay. Phew!

  I also took some portfolio pictures for a friend who was trying to get into acting. They were quite fun to do as they needed to be in black and white and I had my own darkroom setup at the time. So I developed them all myself and was quite pleased with the results. Sadly though, he didn’t make it to stardom. In my blog of the time I used to take photos of extreme close ups and see if anyone could guess what they were. That was fun and quite popular.

  I figured, seeing as I’ve been talking photography I ought to include a few photos. I have thousands of pics that I’ve taken through the years and, to be honest, many of them are rubbish. I was never one to sort through them and throw out the trash, especially since I went digital. So, for this entry I’ve chosen just three. The subject matter varies but they are similar in that they are all firsts. 

  First up then is the first photo I ever took of Honey, our golden lab. She’d only been with us for a day or two and we had to go out and leave her. We shut her in the kitchen because we didn’t know if she’d chew the sofa or rip the cushions up while we were out. When we got back, this is what we saw. She looked so sad but at the same time pleased to see us. My camera was to hand and I quickly snapped this pic.  (I had to crop it a here a little because the original had most of the door in frame.) It wasn’t the best  photo I’ve ever taken , not by a long chalk and I tried to recreate it somany times in order to get it more photo-correct if you know what I mean. But I always come back to this one as it was so natural and it means so much to me because I think this was the point when I fell completely in love with her.

  This next image is not quite an original, it is a retake of the first photograph I ever developed myself when I was taking an O level evening class in photography. The first lesson introduced us to all that the classes would hold and then we were told to go and take some photos for developing next week. The theme was unusual angles. This was my effort, or rather, as I said, a retake of the original. The original was in black and white and I’m sure I have a hard copy of it somewhere. Years later, for one of the photo assignments I mentioned earlier, I retook the pics in colour. As it happens, this turned out almost monochromatic in any case. I have to say though, that I prefer the original black and white version. If only I could find the darn thing.

  The last photo I’m going to bore you with is the first one I developed for my O level exam. This was a series of seven or eight pics I took of a local multi-story car park. This copy as you might guess has been edited and framed in Photoshop as I uploaded it to my  Flickr  account and just wanted to tidy it up. Mind you, it was good enough to help me win a pass in my O level exam so maybe it didn’t need tweaking at all. I spent two years learning photography at evening classes and came away with an O and an A level.

  Not something I ever achieved in my school days, not for any subject. It was Reet’s idea for me to go to night school as she could see I was deeply interested. And I have to say it was the most enjoyable time. It also gave me the incentive to take other night school classes. I  did two years learning French and that too was good. I love French and France. I even tried to convince Reet that we should move there in our early days. But alas, it wasn’t to be. 

  I didn’t get any certificates or anything for French but, I did get an O and an A level in English. I’d always enjoyed English at school but I didn’t take any exams before leaving. So it was nice to know that I could do it, even if I had to pay for night school classes to do so.

 Well, I believe I  might have run out of wind so I’ll bid you goodbye for now.

  More soon, if you’re lucky.

  B. x

 

Family Visit

 Tuesday 6th October 2026

  Last weekend was quite busy, I had my brother, Derry, and his wife, Anne, staying over. They were down from Leicestershire for a party for my other brother’s (John), wife, (Jan). Jan has just turned seventy and their kids arranged a surprise party for her.  Anne and Derry came down on Friday and stayed till Sunday. Derry was born here but moved to Ashby De La Zouch with Anne when they married. They are keen walkers and have hiked all over the place. Whenever I visit them I make sure to take my walking boots because I’m sure to need them. I don’t really mind because I do enjoy walking but don’t do enough of it. Must be all those years of being a postman that puts me off it.

  So anyhoot, when they came down I took them all round the places we played in when we grew up. On the Saturday we walked through a small bit of woodland near my home. We didn’t go far as we had the party to later on. On the Sunday though, we did a lot more walking. When we were kids we always used to play in the  local woods which are called Manor Woods.  We used to walk through the woods to get to school and were always late because we played for too long, forgetting the time. The Manor Woods cover a very large area and we didn’t really venture into its darkest depths in those days. We stayed in the parts nearer our home. There are several fishing ponds over there and we often camped beside them overnight. In the morning we’d nip out of the woods to nearby houses and nick milk off of doorsteps for out tea. If we were lucky we’d get some bread too as,  back then, there were bakers delivering as well as milkmen. A lot of our youth was spent playing in those woods so it was a real memory trip for Derry. Me too, although, I’ve never moved away and have walked my dog over there on many occasions. Derry had been away for some fifty years or more so it was a pleasant walk for him. Anne is a Derbyshire girl and had never seen the place before, but it didn’t matter. As long as she was out walking she was quite happy to let us reminisce.

  During that weekend I also had to pick up my new car. It's very nice but I didn’t get much chance to get to grips with it until Anne and Derry went home. Since then I’ve been trying to shut off the beeps and bongs that it insists on chiming out. Honestly, I got a welcoming noise whenever I opened the door and another noise as I walked away and it locked itself. Then it beeped every time I edged over the speed limit by half a mile an hour. I managed to turn the damn radio off eventually. (I don’t like radio stations as they repeat themselves too often and have too much talking and adverts with not enough music.) I have all my own music collection on a memory stick which I copied from my old Ipod. There’s enough on there to keep me in music for weeks without repetition. So I’m getting to grips with the car at last. Most of the irritating noises have been turned off although I’m sure there will be more to discover as I  go.

  Wednesday 7th October 2026

  I have decided that since I sometimes write these entries over a couple of day or more, I’m gonna add the date each time I write a little more. Otherwise the date that Blogger puts at the top doesn’t always marry up. 

  Today Andy and I went to the allotment. There’s not much to do at this time of year, just a bit of maintenance and some picking if there’s anything still growing. This year, we still have some tomatoes and some runner beans coming through although things are definitely slowing down. As we got to the allotment  it began raining. We persevered for a little while but it soon turned into a downpour so we gave up and came back home. We didn’t mind too much as the rain is much needed after the recent drought. 

  Coming home early has given me some time to write so there’s always a silver lining.
  This will be our sixth year working the allotment. Andy used to have a small vegetable garden in his daughter’s garden but his daughter moved and now she only has a communal garden which he can’t use. So between us we took up a council run allotment. I offered to join him to halve the cost and, more importantly for me, to give me a little exercise. I have several  hobbies but they are all fairly sedentary so I thought the allotment will at least ensure that I got out of the house once in a while instead of sitting playing ukulele or writing or painting or reading etc. 

  We knew very little about gardening when we started although Andy was more knowledgeable than me, but we have both learned a lot over the last six years.  It’s better here as we are surrounded by other growers and some of them have been there for years. So we all pick up tips from one another. The picture you see here is three years old and things have changed since it was taken. These days the greenhouse in the pic has become a storage shed and we have a netted framework next to it instead. It seems to do better than the actual greenhouse ever did. We are not allowed to have proper glass in the greenhouse (for safety reasons, presumably), so we covered it with thick plastic sheeting but it never pulled its weight so we gave it up. We have more netting covering things too these days as the allotments attract all manner of wildlife: muntjacs; foxes; neighbourhood cats; rabbits and squirrels. And birds, of course, they like nothing more than to peck at the seeds if they aren’t covered well. 

  We don’t do too bad with  our veg. We grow a wide range of the usual stuff such as spuds; tomatoes; courgettes; runner beans; beetroot; corn on the cob; onions; garlic; shallots cucumbers, and on…  We do well with most of them although we have some regular failures too. We’ve never had any good sized carrots and the two times we’ve tried to grow mange tout they’ve been rubbish. We have two apple trees and a plum tree which serve us well, especially as we grow rhubarb too and Andy’s wife often makes an apple and rhubarb crumble. YUM!  We also have raspberries and blueberries but we haven’t managed to grow strawberries so far. They never seem to do very well.

  Okay,  that’s enough, I’m getting bored with writing about vegetables so you’re no doubt getting bored reading about them. Suffice to say though that the allotment is going well. It’s a continual learning curve every year and over the last six years I have developed a deep respect for Mother Nature. 

  Toodlepip. 

  B.x