Try not to lick it

In Bradford. Mad old Irish man in a beer bar, his mate leaves. It’s just us. He engages me in conversation and announces that the man he was speaking with used to work with him. Without a moment’s pause I shout back that I was in Cardiff last month watching rugby with my wife and … Continue reading Rap battle, beer style

Let’s not waste time. You know the basic recipe. Tonight, my shockingly bad cooking skills extended to using brisket in place of pork in my signature dish. Only problem is, I used one of Claire’s “mystery” chillis. Just one. A little one. A bit brown. No bigger than a button mushroom. My sense is. I … Continue reading Beef bastard

My lovely cricket team won a game this Saturday. We beat the top of the table team. In the absence of any League umpires, there was something of a kerfuffle, as happens frequently between amateur teams at our level. I’ll be honest; it baffles me. When we’re refereeing each other’s games, of course there’s a … Continue reading Cricket’s the winner

So. Last Tuesday I got a WhatsApp message from the captain of my cricket team. I had been selected as 13th Man for this weekend’s game. Quick cricket heads up: there are 11 players in a cricket team. I’d missed the pick for the Second team. I was the 24th best player at the club … Continue reading Time.

So obviously everyone’s talking about how we’ll never return to sharing offices and how virtual work is at least as good as sharing space, and without the commute, too. I’ve always been an advocate of people coming to the office, and at the start of this I felt like a dinosaur, having to learn the … Continue reading Not-so-splendid isolation

If, like me, you're thinking about losing that couple of extra pounds you've gained over the festive period, then this is the recipe for you. You'll recognise the basics from my pork bastard recipe in December. What we've done here is really dialled down the volume, but (I'd like to think) kept the flavour and … Continue reading New year, new you

It started with a conversation in the office. Jo and Mandy were egging me on to experiment with the rest of a loin of pork I’d essentially ruined on Sunday last. With Mrs T away and only the cats to scare with my cooking, now did seem like the perfect time to try the skills … Continue reading Monsterchef

So I've finally given in and decided to share my signature recipe. As usual with these things, it's important that you experiment with what works for you, but the basic recipe will get you close to the real deal. I came across this dish originally in a Chinese restaurant in Doncaster. It's not there now; … Continue reading Pork bastard

I got a bit ruthless with my entertainment about ten years ago: - stopped going to the cinema because of all the noise and because the films I went to see were flashing light shows (I used to like a bit of “arthouse” cinema but we never got to see that) - stopped watching TV … Continue reading Poems

Last month, I was reviewing an USDAW publication that included Personal injury/ Employer liability claims that they had supported, during a training course at a warehouse. As usual, there were lots of small claims for everything from bruising to back injury. Worth noting that the claims for discrimination were properly bigger than those for injury. … Continue reading Let’s play a game