Nick Gibbins

Tool-using mammal

This has been a pretty good weekend, all things considered. After losing last weekend (and my chance of getting to Eastercon) to an utterly futile assignment for the HE teaching pgcert (I have not the words to explain my complete disdain for the common-sense-dressed-up-with-needless-jargon school of pedagogical theory that seems to be the fashion), I’ve managed to be quite productive. Saturday was a massed invasion by et famille, plus , and . Managed to nip out to B&Q beforehand for timber, about which more below. The had a whale of a time romping with Lottie and Thea, and it was… Read More »Tool-using mammal

Match it for Pratchett

So, had this idea: Today, it was announced that Terry Pratchett has donated half a million pounds to Alzheimer’s research. Hearing that, it occurred to me that if half a million of us all donated a pound to Alzheimer’s research, we could match his donation and make it an even million. So whaddaya say, guys? It’s a pound. That’s about 2 bucks US dollars, give or take a couple of (US) pennies. You can spare that much. Go here and make your donation. Tell them it’s in honour of Terry Pratchett. Let’s do it! I’ve donated £10 to the Alzheimer’s… Read More »Match it for Pratchett

On Bethnal Green

I grew up in Upminster, the eastern terminus of the District Line. Depending on my mood, I’ll describe myself either as having grown up in London (post-boundary changes, Upminster was in the London Borough of Havering), or in south Essex. For years, I maintained that Upminster was naturally part of London, because it was on the London Underground; lying as we did on the inner edge of the green belt, we naturally looked west into London than east into Essex. I spent much of the summers of my teenage years pottering around London on the Tube. For the princely sum… Read More »On Bethnal Green

Book Quiz Answers

Rather later than hoped (v. busy at work), here are the answers to my book quiz: The Quotes Quote 1 Rambling sentences and sheep? It could only be Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) by Thomas Hardy, specifically the passage in which Gabriel Oak loses his shepherding livelihood thanks to an overenthusiastic sheepdog and a cliff. Quote 2 The alien zoo is on the planet Tralfamadore, which makes this Slaughterhouse 5 (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes. Quote 3 Now, I am not wishing to be casting aspersions, but there is only one fellow who is writing about gangsters… Read More »Book Quiz Answers