LIFE IN THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND ( 71 ) Rod Adams I was engaged to Betty at the time. My one and only red-headed woman. I still have the scars and to this day give all red-headed ladies a wide berth. Very wide! Anyway, the point is that she lived in a little village several…

LIFE IN THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND ( 70 ) Rod Adams It had to come of course. I refer to artificial Insemination of female pigeons. That, and DNA profiling is now reasonably available. Falconers have been doing this with birds of prey for a while now so it was really only a…

LIFE IN THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND ( 69 ) Rod Adams When we were kids we called them “Butcher’s Bikes” not “Carrier Bikes.” Remember them? Constructed out of heavy steel tubing with rod-operated brakes and a seat that would grace a tractor? Sometimes the front wheel would be…

LIFE IN THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND ( 67 ) Rod Adams It all started with the Flu jab. I’d been advised, as a controlled asthmatic, to have an injection against Pneumococcal Pneumonia and, as it was also free, my wife decided I should have a Flu jab as well. It worked brilliantly.…

Life in the North East of England (66) Rod Adams Now I have long held the view that if Garlic did everything that was claimed for it, it would be available only on prescription. You may gather from my “Doubting Thomas” viewpoint that my only use for it in the past has been in…