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The End of Offa

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  As all you keen students of Saxon history will know, Offa was a powerful King of Mercia ( the kingdom which was the 'middle bit' of what is now England) who lived from 730AD to 796AD. It seems he was a fairly ruthless bugger who conquered a large part of the surrounding countryside to establish himself as the most powerful monarch of his time (in the British Isles at least.) But he had a bit of a problem to the west of him where resided the British people. They were still a bit pissed off with the Saxons, who had recently stolen all the good ground to the east, and their occasional raids the rustle cattle, horses or daughters was something that irritated King Offa considerably. Legends (and a few contemporary sources) state that Offa built himself a long dyke as a defensive boundary between his conquered lands and the lands of the people he called 'foreigners' in the west: the Saxon word for foreigner is ' Wealh', and   so the country became known to them as...
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Of Planes, Trains and Voles in Holes!

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Most of this was written several weeks ago and I have just realised that I never pressed the 'Publish  button.' So here is an updated version, so that my growing band of devoted readers get the bonus of two posts in 24 hours. I hope you both enjoy them both! I had reluctantly left New Zealand on the 13th April,  my earlier than intended departure had been hastened by my mother's rapidly deteriorating health: 95 years of age with a serious pneumonia did not augur well. Mr Trump's recent 'initiative' in the Middle East had resulted in considerable chaos among the world's airlines and having to change flights was a frustrating and expensive process. So with my credit card squealing, I bordered an Air NZ flight to Shanghai; this was the first time in many years that I had flown this route. Shanghai Airport - technically Shanghai Pudong airport - is a modern impressive facility which is just as well because I had 18 hours to wait here! I had booked a hotel for a ...
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Escape to Cadair and Cuckoos.

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20th May 2026: It was time to break out and find a little space for myself. I had no idea how walking fit I was but having invested in a new pair of Scarpa walking boots, it was time to set off and find out. It was a cloudy Wednesdaymorning as I checked Trusty Rusty's oil and tyre pressure and set off north up that familiar west coast road in search of adventure beyond Aberystwyth. The drive was uneventful, the road relatively quiet (it seems that petrol prices are inhibiting casual motoring) and the only real change I noticed compared to the last time I was up this way, were even more Welsh flags flying and a plethora of Plaid Cymru placards. The mood of the country seems to have changed a little after the recent Senedd Elections, when Plaid Cymru emerged to form a government for the first time. Labour were decimated in the Welsh Parliament elections, being reduced to rump a meagre nine seats. But enough of politics! I stopped for an ice cream at RSPB Ynys Hir, ( https://www.rspb....
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Hello again.....

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It's been quite a while since I last visited these pages - and even longer since any of you were here! But, like an unscratched itch, the blog has been nagging away at me for the last few weeks, so I have decided to re-commence some scribblings here. Why do I bother? Ultimately these pages are here for me to read in my dotage. Is that a pending comment I hear - "Then why aren't you reading them already?"   It is possible that my absence of the last 18 months is largely because little of interest has happened? Maybe my life has become too boring to write about? Or maybe I have just been too busy doing "other stuff"? Whatever the reason, I'm back and determined to post something here at least twice a month, with the ever present possibility of a few historical updates as well. Please join me if you are at all interested. Here we go..... TO BE CONTINUED (HONESTLY!) More soon! I will be posting regularly on this blog. If you are interested, become a follower...
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Masks of Gold

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 It has been an exciting, nerve-wracking month as I have put the finishing touches to my second novel, "Masks of Gold". This is the prequel to the "Bell that never Rang". Yes! I wrote them in the wrong order! As the first one emerged out of family tree history during Covid lockdown I can, I believe, be forgiven for the mix up? I have now decided to make it a trilogy and I am pretty certain that the third edition will be the third in the series.   Self publishing is not for the faint hearted but it must be considerably easier than times past, when typewriters, photocopiers and sticky tape were the order of the day. Modern technology, namely Kindle Direct Publishing, allows files to be uploaded into kindle format or print copies. But there is a lot of detail to process first; a lot of typo tracking and layout issues which have to be ground out. And the cover must fit the size of book exactly. I have been supported by a team of helpers and editors who have laboured the...
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