24th June 2022 In Books By Penelope Wallace

A booksy gathering in Hull

Last month I went to Hull for the weekend. I enjoyed an interesting guided tour round Hull city centre – obviously this is a loved city with a spirit of independence and creativity - but the reason for my visit was to attend the AGM of...

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9th May 2022 In General By Penelope Wallace

The story of a dolls’ house

Back in the 1930s, a Midlands solicitor and his wife commissioned the making of an expensive dolls’ house as a birthday present for their elder daughter Ursula. On the day, her father sent the child on an errand to the room where it had been...

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8th April 2022 In General By Penelope Wallace

How we battle climate change: a few ignorant questions

(Once again, apologies for lateness.) This week a fairly depressing and urgent IPCC report was issued  - see here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60984663) We can try to battle climate change by challenging the government and campaigning for better insulation, more wind farms etc. And/or we can try to battle climate change...

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11th March 2022 In General By Penelope Wallace

Snow, rain and language

It is or has been alleged that the Inuit people have a large number of words for snow, presumably different types of snow. I was going to write a post about how this theory is connected, if at all, to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as...

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25th February 2022 In General By Penelope Wallace

Ignorant musings on Ukraine

I was planning to get back to blogging, honest, but life has been busy. But here are a few thoughts about the topic on everyone's mind; they're not likely to be better than anyone else's. Practically speaking, it makes absolutely no difference how much I express...

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7th January 2022 In General By Penelope Wallace

100 years on from November 1922

The following is unashamedly partisan. There is a well-known TV current affairs talk show in the US called “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Just before Christmas my esteemed publisher and fellow-author CS (Caz) Woolley drew my attention to a Youtube excerpt from it, in which...

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10th December 2021 In General By Penelope Wallace

The guilty pleasure that is Bake Off

Many people took up new hobbies during lockdown, eighteen months ago. One young man (real name Will Chirag, but now known to millions as Chigs) decided to take up baking. On Tuesday 23rd November, he amazingly reached the final of the Great British Bake-Off, which is...

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