sullomeoApr 24, 20204 minThe End of the PAThe village public address system has fallen silent. There used to be twice-weekly announcements over the PA telling of shop opening times,
sullomeoApr 7, 20204 minSeasons of ChangeI was looking forward to Tom’s book and CD launch. Then this virus farce-cum-Armageddon came along. In his wisdom, Tom had asked me to...
sullomeoDec 10, 20195 minNew rooms, old tat, and the Law of Diminishing MeritFor two and a half years the upstairs section of our house was like a Lego set with several key pieces missing.
sullomeoOct 18, 20195 minOf Martens and MenThe mystery of the foam rubber litter under the car bonnet was solved by the man at the garage. He had seen this many times before. “Kuna”.
sullomeoMay 14, 20194 minOld MacDonald had a farm… and that’s the problemOur friends ridiculed the idea of an organic, pre-junkfood, non-processed healthy diet, but I wasn’t having it. We were soon ranting...
sullomeoApr 24, 20194 minLife with no doorsI’m listening to a Czech version of Stupid Cupid Stop Picking On Me. I am a reluctant listener, but the builders’ radio is very loud.
sullomeoApr 3, 20195 minBuild and BilledThe man who was making our new garden door phoned. He would deliver it tomorrow, mid-morning. He duly turned up at 6.30.
sullomeoMar 12, 20194 minCassandra – is anyone listening?At first glance, the following comments might not seem relevant to renovating a house in the Czech wilderness. But they are.
sullomeoJan 18, 20194 minWolves in the SnowThe wolves appeared last summer. It’s the first pack in Bélý for as long as anyone can remember.
sullomeoJan 17, 20195 minWhat do we know about where we live, and is any of it true?I was recently asked to write a blog about Oxfordshire history. I’d just finished writing a concise history of the county.
sullomeoDec 6, 20183 minThe Wren and the GhostsAs I opened the door to the kitchen corridor, the wren zipped through to the dining room at the far end, her wings purring past my ear.
sullomeoOct 19, 20184 minOne-way ticket, destination unknownI’m sitting on a bench at the top terrace of the garden, with Fido beside me, his nose as restless as a class of ten year olds seconds befor
sullomeoMay 25, 20183 minThe Reign of RainIt rained more than I could ever imagine it raining in a non-equatorial location.
sullomeoMay 8, 20184 minOf Mice and ZenWith snow piling up in the attic, a frozen loo, holes in the wall wide enough to admit a decent sized bear, it was a proper winter.
sullomeoFeb 12, 20183 minOut in the ColdBorn with a plastic spoon rather than a silver one, I’d not had the opportunity before to see how easy it is to spend a huge amount of money
sullomeoNov 30, 20175 minCommunal Living and Fighting Fire FightersMagda finished what the rain had started, knocking down the soggy internal walls and removing what remained of the mud and straw ceiling.
sullomeoNov 15, 20175 minGhosts in the AtticThe attic of our 1720 former pub yielded a few treasures, mostly buried under mounds of hay and wood, or tucked under the floorboards.
sullomeoNov 8, 20175 minBack to SchoolWith no internet in our damp, crumbling ruin-cum-home, I had to look for an office. The end result was a large room in Jan and Theo’s school
sullomeoOct 31, 20173 minHow to Destroy a HouseWhen the roofers finally moved in, the moody, wet summer had turned into an even moodier, positively flooded autumn.
sullomeoOct 22, 20174 minBurning the WitchesAs you know, April 30th is the day when the winter goddess surrenders to the advancing year and allows the summer goddess to take over...