When I was a kid, I read more than my share of fantasy books. You’d often find me walking through a wardrobe into Narnia or imagining what it was like to cast my own spell. Kids do imagination better than adults ever could and I was all about the magic I could create with my…
At junior school, I used to sit next to a girl called Suzanne. Believe it or not, at school, they used to put two of us on washing up duty in the teachers staff room. Suzanne was always the one I ended up on duty with and she was a decidedly hard worker. Whatever she…
When I was at college I did PE at ‘AS’ level. Not ‘ASS’ level – that’s a different thing entirely. I think AS level was half an A level… or thereabouts. One lesson consisted of heading down to the local swimming baths. Quite frankly, this was my kind of lesson since I went swimming to…
It’s probably about time I did a post all about the features on this site, so people don’t end up confused. First off, here’s the navigation Menu: It won’t look like this on mobile, but all of the items will still be accessible (okay, ‘serious Dean’) Home, Who Is Dean and Contact Dean are self…
Yesterday I went to my grandparents ashes plot at the cemetery. Last time I visited was 2019, which feels almost embarrassing for me to write. I don’t know why I haven’t been more often, it’s just one of those things I guess. We also went to visit a mutual friend who died around 3 years…
There are certain people I spare a thought for every day, even though they are no longer with me. My grandfather is one of them. 35 years ago now. I still think about him and I still miss him. Here’s a picture of me with him when I was a kid: So far it’s been…
Before I forget, I did a thing. I added a feature on my site so readers can leave me a note instead of logging into their email. These things are always fiddly and it sort of works like a poor mans version of AOL/MSN Messenger, except I’m not always online. Anyhoo, this is where it…
Welcome to post 60 of 100. I can’t believe I’m 60% of the way through already. It will feel strange when I’m writing the 100th and possibly final post, that is for sure. Here’s a quote by Charles Bukowski which I’m sure most people reading this blog will have seen at some time in their…
I watched this fascinating thing the other day, which was a true story about a group of young guys in 1972 that ended up in a Mexican prison with little hope of seeing the light of day again for decades. They just bought a bit of weed to sell on in order to fund their…
It was a late afternoon in the Summer of 2021. A Friday just like any other, except that day I was a passenger in a small hatchback heading back from Kings Heath. I always find on Fridays, the people out driving back home from work are nuts. They’ve had enough of the week at work…
Readers of this blog will already know that one of my all-time favourite actors is John Candy. He was one of those rare comic actors who could make you laugh one minute and quietly move you the next. His humanity always shone through. Robin Williams had that same quality, but this isn’t the post where…