S1 Ep100: Help is at Hand
In the six months that I have been working form home, I have been meaning to secure my passwords, which are now abundant. I’m with an on line system. I can just about remember the password to get onto the site, but t’s so long ago since anyone explained how to use the system, that I will probably get locked out. Getting locked out was once a job for a socially awkward man who arrived in a van ...
4m Jun 30, 2022
4m
S1 Ep99: The Bee in my Bonnet
I’ve been cursing the turn of the month and the annual arrival of bees up the nose which are a fair indication that the start of a winter cold is upon me. Those bees really went for it. By day two they had made their way into ears and throat and had started to become a bit of a nuisance. No matter how much I coughed they weren’t going anywhere. They’d settled in to ensure a generous level of i...
5m Jun 28, 2022
5m
S1 Ep98: Friendship
The Flatmate (that was), is now up to her neck in Italian Politics and any chit chat has to be by appointment and booked ahead. We have a provisional date for a week on Sunday. In the meantime, she has celebrated living half a century. Obviously, I was not invited, because of “IT” and the collapse of air travel. I sent her a phone charger and a packet of pants for her Birthday. These are thing...
5m Jun 23, 2022
5m
S1 Ep97: Called to the Bar
The Grand was having his morning nap. The Son was working away in another room and not to be disturbed. The DiL got out her laptop and was busy. I decided to take myself off for a walk. I thought I’d go for a mooch, have a look at the house I lived in when I was a student. It was not how I remember it. I’d take that walk across the common that I used to do. It had changed. Not even the old lau...
4m Jun 21, 2022
4m
S1 Ep96: Fags, Bags and Worse
The Grand can now walk independently. I have been surprised that he can out manoeuvre those of us who have more than half a century of experience on him, and should be able to anticipate his every move. Apparently I can’t. It’s all coming back to me now. When the Son began his life as a self propelled person I had the same trouble. I could never anticipate the direction he might dart off in if...
4m Jun 16, 2022
4m
S1 Ep95: The Mystery of the Blue Grass
The Sister has a wonderful garden. It’s awash with colour and raspberries. It’s full of interesting quirks: Planting, statues, places to sit, bee hives and fruiting trees. We enjoy a stroll. She tells me what she’s been up to in the garden and I throw out the odd comment. “That’s nice. I like that,” I say encouragingly. “That’s a lump of concrete I dug up.” I’m not deterred from commenting on ...
5m Jun 14, 2022
5m
S1 Ep94: Night Swimming
We’re living through Goldilocks weather. It’s been too hot to sleep. Then it was too wet for my tomatoes to ripen, too cloudy for the runners to flower. The plums at the top of the garden are now looking glistening pink, but even the satisfaction of an endless supply of plumb jam has limits. I’m restless. All of this against a backdrop of staying at home. The daily constitutional is getting to ...
4m Jun 09, 2022
4m
S1 Ep93: Dear Reader, He Moved In
The Toad is right up there with the viper when it comes to expressions of morality in literature. He’s the method by which feminine goodness is put to the test and the punishment for mean or shrewish behaviour. What then, is the meaning of this? I like to sit in the garden when it’s dark. The cloak of darkness brings privacy and I enjoy that moment when the sun fades and a feeling of stillness...
4m Jun 07, 2022
4m
S1 Ep92: The Spectacle Tree
The topiary at the top of my garden is definitely due a hair cut. I’ve resisted doing it myself because a lack of three dimensional vision has lead me to the conclusion that I have no skills in this department. Months of covid lockdown have lead me to the same conclusion about my own hair. The only thing that I can say about cutting my own hair is that it would be shorter. Some relief has come...
4m Jun 02, 2022
4m
S1 Ep91: Masquerade
If you attend one of the great masked balls of Venice, its said that you will not recognise your own reflection in the waters of the Grand Canal. With anonymity assured, anything goes. So the question is, dare you enter the world of masquerade and let go of your inhibitions from behind the secrecy of a sophisticated and stylish face covering? The rules of social distancing forbid such cavortin...
4m May 31, 2022
4m
S1 Ep90: Circles Of Damnation
I have had a glimpse of Hell. I have swum the waters of the Styx and crawled up the bank on the far side. I did it all in the hunt for the single stem garden plant support. When I say I swam, it might be nearer the truth to say that I sweated my way up the hill in a waterproof in more humidity than I anticipated. Having spent half an hour in this endeavour, I arrived at the gates of hell to be...
4m May 26, 2022
4m
S1 Ep89: Something Went Twang
What Covid 19 has given me is sleep. I’m touching wood. I don’t want to speak too soon. I’ve got my fingers crossed, which is not an easy thing to do when typing. I can’t remember when I slept like this. I’m hoping that the long deep sleeps of the past few weeks are a permanent legacy of this killer cough. The daily routines that have taken over my world don’t mean that I am stuck in a rut or ...
4m May 24, 2022
4m
S1 Ep88: Bombshell
After weeks of being at home, I’ve got used to dressing down. I’m not so feral as to sit at my computer in my best blouse with only my underwear and a pair of Disney themed slippers, but I’m beginning to hanker after the idea of dressing up.   The draw of an opportunity for a big night out in the company of three chickens and five friends, under a gazebo, was the thrill of the week.  What shou...
4m May 19, 2022
4m
S1 Ep87: Resistance Is Futile
The BF has taken up jigsaw puzzles. She’s currently doing a one thousand piecer of the 99 most beautiful places she won’t be going to any time soon. My neighbours have got cupboards full of jigsaw puzzles. They have even got up to the moment puzzles that their grown up children have given them for their Birthdays, so they wont get bored during lockdown. There has been a lot of WhatsApp action...
5m May 17, 2022
5m
S1 Ep86: Blot On The Landscape
This is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight. This week's episode is titled:  'Blot On The Landscape'.
4m May 12, 2022
4m
S1 Ep85: Etiquette For A New Age
This is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight. This week's episode is titled: 'Etiquette For A New Age'.
4m May 10, 2022
4m
S1 Ep84: Lockdown, Lies and Revelations
This is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight. This week's episode is titled: 'Lockdown, Lies and Revelations'. 
5m May 05, 2022
5m
S1 Ep83: My Blind Corona Shop
No one’s going to be leaning over the pub bar any time soon and ordering a pint of Corona. Time, it seems, has been called on all our social lives for the foreseeable future. The help lines have stopped answering. Even Wayne in Mumbai, who regularly calls, offering to fix my infected computer for a small fee and access to my bank account, has stopped ringing.  I hope he’s not coughing. Social ...
4m May 03, 2022
4m
S1 Ep82: Blind Shooter
I have been to the moon and back, plumbed in bathrooms and more besides, and all in my sleep. I normally undertake these activities in an orderly fashion in the seconds before I wake up. These days, my adventures have become more numerous because I am no longer a spring chicken and prone to waking up a lot, which involves dreaming a lot. Just before the light came up and I woke up this morning...
5m Apr 28, 2022
5m
S1 Ep81: My Dots Are Raised
The oven packed up. Why does this always happen when you have chopped up enough vegetables to sustain an anaerobic digester for a week? That’s what happened. At the point of realisation, I switched the top oven on, but that didn’t work either. Vegetables cooked in the microwave. I said to the assembled hungry hordes known as Angela, “I’ll just dish up over the bin.” The Flatmate had no trouble...
4m Apr 26, 2022
4m
S1 Ep80: Twenty Questions
A good part of my life is spent on matters to do with #Fund Raising. It’s a tough old game so I’m sympathetic to anyone faced with the challenge and especially if it’s something I’d like to support. I confess I’m not a fan of the fund raising event. I know that people like to feel they have got something for their donation but it often seems to me, that like the village fete, it’s a fate worse...
4m Apr 21, 2022
4m
S1 Ep79: The Hairy Eared Hound
Children’s literature is the best. When The Son was growing up, I loved reading to him. I do a pretty passable #Eeyore. Some have even commended me on my #Piglet. That’s another story involving prunes and Bombay mix, the ultimate delicacy. One of the joys of reading to very small children is the large print that books for small children tend to come with. They allow plenty of scope for “ooing”...
4m Apr 19, 2022
4m
S1 Ep78: Blind Date
“I guess that not being able to see makes dating a whole lot easier,” a one-time only dinner date suggested. “I mean. It wouldn’t matter to you what people look like. You could be with a really ugly ****** and you wouldn’t care.”  I know beauty when I see it even if it’s not all about looks. I might just work my way into a conversation with an attractive man if one gets close enough to judge. ...
4m Apr 14, 2022
4m
S1 Ep77: The Long Way Round
What could be nicer than to live it up with a couple of friends, eat canapés (not part of my five a day), drink an immodest glass of wine, then work it all off with a stroll home along the river?   “I’ll be back in time for Newsnight,” I texted. Instructing Wanda (that’s setting a google map route) should never be attempted at a stride. A cursory glance for oncoming obstacles is still a skill...
4m Apr 12, 2022
4m
S1 Ep76: It’s A Spaghetti Western
Storm Brendon, council Christmas tree disposal policy and a long walk home don’t appear to have much in common. Put them all together and you can live through your own Spaghetti western. It’s not that the good citizens of Clapham are having a hairy panic seeing Clint Eastwood emerge through the tumbleweed blowing down the High Street. The good, the bad and the ugly of South London have all run...
5m Apr 07, 2022
5m
S1 Ep75: You Can Never Have Enough Dachshunds
The Old Bag rang me up to say that she and her slobbering side kick were in festive mood and would I like a drink? I said I would and that she should come round to my house for a mince pie and a real fire. She left the slobbering side kick at home, which upset me. I left the cork in the bottle and gave her a cup of tea. She drank it anyway. “My dear girl, I have read your last blog post. I hav...
4m Apr 05, 2022
4m
S1 Ep74: Joy To The World
Forget the heralding of Christmas with the purchase of industrial quantities of Brussel Sprouts. Better to trumpet the festivities with the Jerusalem artichoke. It achieves the same result but for less. Fighting my way through Christmas madness, I find myself shuffling against the tide of shoppers who are straining under the weight of last minute purchases. I’m on a mission to snaffle the last...
4m Mar 31, 2022
4m
S1 Ep73: Jobs For The Girls
“Get a job with a pension” was the plea of Alan Pickering’s’ parents. He did. He became a pensions guru. Someone has to do it and there is no reason why a man without sight but with plenty of vision couldn’t do the job. He did so well at it he got a gong.  This is what he said about how he got there.https://www.pensionsage.com/pa/Guest-comment-Vision-without-sight.php Not everyone gets the ben...
4m Mar 29, 2022
4m
S1 Ep72: Knocking On Doors
The drama of elections is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s largely tedium and data entry. I’m sure about this. I’ve been out canvassing over two elections. I’m even in a WhatsApp group of canvassers. I can’t claim a high level of commitment. It’s all proving a bit tricky. “We’re looking for people to lead.” “I can do that,” I said. “It’s tricky with you because you can’t see the computers...
4m Mar 24, 2022
4m
S1 Ep71: Baba Black Sheep
Anyone who’s been lucky enough to receive the Freedom of the City of London is, to a Freeman or Free Sister, asked if that means they are going to drive their sheep over London Bridge. This ancient medieval right was long abandoned but has made a cunning reappearance in recent years. Alan Titchmarsh has done it. It’s annoying because he pops up doing just about everything that I might have fan...
4m Mar 22, 2022
4m
S1 Ep70: The Twitcher
In a late night dash for home, it occurred to me that there was no milk in the fridge and so a short detour was called for. A pint of milk for the necessity of morning tea would surely be possible, and it was. At the till, while I waited for someone to take my money, I thought I’d use the time productively and started fumbling in my bag for the trusty monocular. I was just putting it round my ...
4m Mar 17, 2022
4m
S1 Ep69: Spanx Pants
I love a party. I love an elegant pair of shoes, but not enough to wear them for longer than I have to. Having a back up pair of trainers under a table is a good idea. It’s not the end of the world if it’s a good party and someone starts to clear the room before you are ready to leave and they shout out, “Anyone want to claim these trainers?” I’m unbashful. “They’re mine.” I love a really goo...
4m Mar 15, 2022
4m
S1 Ep68: Laundry Bags and Prophylactics
The mesh laundry bag is making a come back. It’s a much under valued item that will preserve my clothes from the ferocity of the spin cycle on my elderly washing machine. I hope never to hear again, ” Did you know there’s a hole in that?” I will never hear myself say again, “Obviously not or I wouldn’t be wearing it. My first line of defence is a series of raised dots stuck on the front of th...
4m Mar 10, 2022
4m
S1 Ep67: Beans For Tea
The most I have ever grown is a single radish sometime in the seventies.  My Dad used to give me runner bean and the odd courgette plant. Sometimes they thrived and sometimes they died. More accurately, I killed them. I’m feeling pretty smug as I’ve grown much of my lawn from seed this year, although the Right Hand neighbour gently pointed out that the lawn is full of all kinds of things that ...
4m Mar 08, 2022
4m
S1 Ep66: Halfway Down The Stairs
A.A. Milne might have sat down half way down the stairs, but he never did it because he couldn’t wait another second to see what had popped up on his mobile phone. I have noticed that the folk who have adopted this practice are neither in #London Underground or in the town. They are not at the bottom. They are not in the top. They are standing half way up the exit staircase. They are right in t...
4m Mar 03, 2022
4m
S1 Ep65: How To Catch A Taxi
Coming out on to the street, the heat hit me.  A day of brainstorming had taken its toll. No matter how good the air conditioning and how sweet the cake, there is nothing like a good blast of hot air after a long day of trying not to disgrace yourself, to make you feel the strain. Far fetched as it sounds, in thirty degrees of heat, I needed to be in Upper Street before 6.30, to beat the deadl...
4m Mar 01, 2022
4m
S1 Ep64: All Life Is On The Bus
Highways England have written to me as part of a consultation about a proposed Motorway junction improvement scheme. That is to say, the letter began “Dear Resident”, so I don’t imagine they will be crying into their tea when they don’t hear back from me. Not having a car seems a belief too far for some people. How can anyone live without one? “I don’t believe you don’t have one,” said the wo...
4m Feb 24, 2022
4m
S1 Ep63: Three Days In A Dungeon
The Best Friend and I have just made a pilgrimage to Edinburgh. Our idea of a good time is to spend three days sweating it out in a Scottish dungeon along with a hundred or so other people, all perspiring away in slightly damp pack-a-macs. We have the aroma or damp dogs in search of a good laugh. If Best Friend were a damp dog, she would definitely opt to be a yellow Labrador. It’s so crowded ...
5m Feb 22, 2022
5m
S1 Ep62: Your Point Is?
There’s been a great thread on #Twitter about pointless #Braille. Can there be such a thing? Yes, but should the question be; in the digital age is there any point to Braille? Put it another way, is there any point to literacy? Studies show that if you are blind and a Braille reader, you are more likely to achieve academically and find and keep employment as compared to people who rely solely ...
4m Feb 17, 2022
4m
S1 Ep61: One Is A Granny
Having spent the better part of my premenopausal life avoiding pregnancy, I have spent the entirety of post menopausal life “egging” the son on to embrace reproduction. My enquiry into his plans for parenthood have not always been met with a ready enthusiasm to discuss the subject with me, his Mother. We developed a ritual exchange on the subject. “Don’t be selfish. Think of me.” “Mother, you...
5m Feb 15, 2022
5m
S1 Ep60: Who’s The Genius?
As the witching hour broke, I began to roam about the house in the dark, trying not to make a noise less the dog barked, the household awoke and the neighbours cursed me. Then it dawned on me that I was no longer in possession of a phone. The phone was lying face down in the road and beyond the prospect of a replacement screen. Thus began a week of red faced trips to the #Apple store. The red...
5m Feb 10, 2022
5m
S1 Ep59: Dancing In Car Parks
My friend, the Dynamo, and I are firmly of the belief that the car boot sale provides the optimum purchasing opportunity for plants. Lovingly grown by amateurs, selling off their excess Cosmos cheap, it’s a joy to behold. All of this can be washed down with a disgusting cup of tea, sitting on a plastic chair in a car park. My personal car boot joy is dependant on being whisked to the car boot ...
5m Feb 08, 2022
5m
S1 Ep58: Two Front Teeth
Flying has been a feature of my life. I cannot begin to calculate how many flights I have been on. Not all of them have begun in Luton.  There is one flight that could be described as a short haul flight that has turned into the longest haul flight in the history of flight. You might say it is a flight with teeth. If the Wright brothers could establish the principle of man and machine acting i...
5m Feb 03, 2022
5m
S1 Ep57: To Pee Or Not To Pee
I went to have a cuppa with my friend The Big Cheese. He’s always late so being punctual gave me ample time to navigate the “patrons only” use of the loo rule, before I became a patron. The deal is that there is a code on your till receipt that is the code for the loo. I didn’t yet have a till receipt and was reluctant to stake my place at a table with my coat, just in case someone my size fan...
4m Feb 01, 2022
4m
S1 Ep56: Northern Delights
I’ve been to Gateshead, where despite the chill winds, skirts are still high. Northern women are tough, resilient to the elements but not without a soft side. The receptionist at check-in asked me to verify my details on the bit of card they always hand you. I said that I’d be grateful if she could read it to me. She asked me if I needed my glasses. I said I didn’t as they wouldn’t help, but i...
4m Jan 27, 2022
4m
S1 Ep55: Women Need Sheds
My garden shed has been gently dissolving into the ground for some time now. In every cost there is an opportunity. Having sat down with the Right Hand Neighbour to consider our shed options, I settled on a modest affair just right to stuff old ironing boards in. Yvonne (not her real name) adjusted her head set because she was having a bit of trouble hearing what I was saying but we got there...
4m Jan 25, 2022
4m
S1 Ep54: The Side Hussle
Nowadays it’s not uncommon to have a job that is part of the grand scheme of your career as well as a job on the side, that might be a way to make money or it’s just about something you like doing. I met a man whose main business was shady nightclubs and whose side hussle was philosophy discussions in the pub. I’m not sure how much pub goers were willing to pay for philosophy. I thought that w...
4m Jan 20, 2022
4m
S1 Ep53: Bowled Over
Now I’m alert to the risks that public parks present me with: stray dogs with large teeth that will “hound” you for your lunch or even a takeaway tea, small children on scooters who can neither swerve nor break, teenagers on bicycles taking a short cut at top speed, joggers, beggars, hawkers and pick pockets. To the ever expanding list of hazards I can crash into, trip over or be robbed blind b...
5m Jan 18, 2022
5m
S1 Ep52: The Dog Ate My Glasses
I discovered I might be wearing the wrong reading glasses.  I might have been wearing the wrong prescription for more than a decade.  I’ve been using glasses that are designed for reading a book. I have long since stopped reading books. I read my computer screen. Wearing the wrong prescription is all the rage: My chum The Doctor has been wearing her contact lenses the wrong way round. She’s be...
5m Jan 13, 2022
5m
S1 Ep51: Put Your Foot Down
The Plumber was moaning about the cost of running a car. I told him that this was something outside my experience. He told me that his Father, who is registered blind, has three cars.  What is it that makes people who can’t see much, or even anything at all, want to own a car? The Plumbers Father has a people carrier that his wife drives him around in, in the endless rounds of house clearing, ...
4m Jan 11, 2022
4m