Can’t be Easy

Posted on 12/06/2022 By

Bobby holding Little Bobby.

Bobby and “Bobby”share a joke.

Bertie: “It can’t be easy being you, Bobby. It’s hard enough just being your friend. A day of wonderful joy became a following day of huge muddle in your bonce.” (more…)

GADMindfulness    


The Platinum Jubilee Thursday

Posted on 12/06/2022 By

Platinum Thursday

Royal flag and souvenirs for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Platinum Thursday. Piccadilly Circus.

When Eliza Doolittle sat at the corner of the stage in a scene of old London and sang “Wouldn’t it be luvverly” Bobby knew it would be a wonderful show. That he had booked the cheapest ticket in the back row of the “gods”, not even knowing it was a very special day was lucky enough. (more…)

HolidaysPS    


The Elizabeth Line

Posted on 05/06/2022 By

You never took me

The Elizabeth Line logo as applied to one of the new trains.

Bertie: “You never took me!”

Bobby: “Now look Bertie, I had no idea I was going to see the opening of the Elizabeth Line. I go to London every Tuesday for an Al-Anon meeting in Islington. This week I had arranged to meet Technical Director Tim on his canal boat. Hoping to solve a simple IT problem I had prevaricated over for weeks. But then I had chosen Farringdon as my station for Islington. A station steeped in history and the centre of the extraordinary building of the Elizabeth Line.” (more…)

PSTrainspotter     ,


The Darling Buds of May at Laurel Cottage

Posted on 29/05/2022 By

The Darling Buds of May - Laurel Cottage covered in budding flowers.

The man is the book; the book is the man. This incontestable truth, which I often repeat to myself, I claim to be as true of gardens as it is of authors and their books. As a man is, so is his garden. He is a reflection of it. And it of him. For this reason, whenever I am asked how I planned my garden, I always reply, “I didn’t. It evolved.”

So said H E Bates in his book “A Fountain of Flowers”. (more…)

Gardens    


Lily of the Valley

Posted on 22/05/2022 By

When Estelle (a mindfulness teacher friend of Bobby’s) gave Bobby that single stem of Lily of the Valley, she could never have imagined what memories she would unlock from his far off young days.

Lily of the Valley (more…)

Gardens    


A Very Special Night Indeed

Posted on 15/05/2022 By

Special Night

A Very Special Night: Curtain Call for Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House.

Curtain Call on a Very Special Night Indeed.

Back in April, Bobby had been to his lunchtime Al-Anon meeting in Islington. The sun shone and he caught a 205 bus to pursue further peace and serenity in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. Intending to turn his phone off, it bleeped nevertheless. The Bobbys of this world are compelled to look, of course. (more…)

Mindful    


Are You An Explorer?

Posted on 08/05/2022 By

Explorer

Bobby dressed like an explorer on a boardwalk at the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust, Arundel.

Are you an Explorer?” the little girl asked.

“I am” said Bobby. “And so are you.” (more…)

GardensMindfulPSWildlife    


Flowers on the Coastpath

Posted on 01/05/2022 By

🌸Fl🌸wers 🌸n t🌸e c🌸stp🌸th🌸

Flowers on the Coastpath: Yellow Gorse against the blue sky.

🌸 Out damned spot I say. One two
Why then is time to do’t. Hell is murky (more…)

MindfulPembrokeshire    


Brooklands Bertie at Brooklands Bus Rally

Posted on 24/04/2022 By

Brooklands Bertie

Brooklands Bertie.

Brooklands Bertie.

Bertie: “Well, Brooklands Bertie, you really surprised us. Here at Mindfully Bertie we have the main bears. Me, Trevor and Eamonn. We all write stories. On the front room couch are the soft toy bears that Bobby has bought in moments of weakness at special events. Destined to languish on the couch forever. That’s where you have been for five years. Wearing a toy racing helmet and goggles. And that’s where you would have stayed, but for the strict rules at Wembley Stadium. (more…)

Flying Legends    


Dorking Running Day

Posted on 17/04/2022 By

Programme for the shelved Dorking Running Day, Sunday 29 March 2020.

The programme was printed for 2020, but shelved because of Covid until now.

In 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board was formed. Part of its responsibility was the Country Bus and Coach Department, which took charge of the country area and Greenline coach operations. In the next few years, a vast network was established. Many new country bus garages built. (more…)

Buses