Anne Pickles
Of course you can take the girl out of Cumbria – but she’ll never forget the first love of her life
Published 10 October 2008
It was a perfect autumn afternoon. A soft, golden Tuscan sunshine was bathing the piazza in which long, lazy lunches were being enjoyed by locals and visitors together, making best advantage of fresh air, good food and friendship.
Keep a couple of dreams up your sleeve and you’ll discover that old age has some benefits
Published 3 October 2008
Dressed to the teeth – for a man who still prefers jeans and T-shirts – his smile wasn’t quite so wide as usual. He’s normally such a happy chap.
Very sweet of those nice folk at the council to take an interest but no wedding bells here
Published 26 September 2008
Rumours of matrimony are greatly exaggerated. No cake, no frock, no rings nor patter of slamming doors. I’m still the singleton – or to be more legally accurate the happy divorcee – in spite of some suspicions to the contrary.
A birthday celebration with champagne and sausage? It could only be done in Cumbria
Published 19 September 2008
We were a mixed bunch. Motley even. All ages, shapes and sizes; complexions ranging from Mediterranean tan to Cumbria pasty face. Sipping Pimm’s through cucumber, we were in celebratory mood.
I can stand divorce, death and drama – but a wayward apostrophe still gives me the willies
Published 19 September 2008
They’re back then. Some with smiles, some with scowls, some with new blazers bought for the growing into. A new school year has begun.
I can stand divorce, death and drama – but a wayward apostrophe still gives me the willies
Published 12 September 2008
They’re back then. Some with smiles, some with scowls, some with new blazers bought for the growing into. A new school year has begun.
Daffodils to define us? Now there’s a notion to make you smile – more than anywhere else, too
Published 5 September 2008
Never mind the daffodils, what about the pies? Surely there’s more to Cumbria than a soppy old poem about nodding spring flowers.
Life without loved ones is like a bank holiday without a carnival where men dress as ducks
Published 29 August 2008
It was an eerily quiet bank holiday Sunday. No decorated floats, loud music, fun fair rides or crowds – just a handful of beery smokers, standing ankle deep in cigarette butts piled outside the pubs.
I could take or leave the Olympic ballyhoo, if it weren’t for those unsporting Aussies
Published 22 August 2008
How do you make a browbeaten Brit chipper? Give him a clutch of superheroes and a medal tally to gloat about. That’s the pure gold lesson of Beijing.
A purchase thwarted by those three little words that strike fear into the heart: health and safety
Published 22 August 2008
His cheeks flushed with an intake of breath matching the suction action of a Dyson. It was so fierce his eyes bulged – and I’d an idea I might be in trouble.
Lure of the north is now bitter, flat caps, fine sausages – and good conversationalists
Published 8 August 2008
They say we’re an especially talkative lot in the north. At least that’s what the upper-crust Londoner on the radio said the other day.
We’ve moved on from Tupperware – now it’s the Tote and a rare fascination with feathers
Published 1 August 2008
It’s possible we’ll risk a glass or two of something refreshing. In fact it’s probable. Or – put another way – absolutely certain. Even so, there was no need for his sarcasm.
Had I been told about competitive creativity, I wouldn’t be looking for duvets day excuses now
Published 25 July 2008
If I’d known as a child there might be mileage in competitive creativity, things could have been very different. Had someone told me county agricultural shows were precisely the places for cultivating imagination and nurturing eagerness to succeed, who knows around which exciting corner life might have turned.
Exams too easy? Well they have to be or the markers would never cope
Published 18 July 2008
So, school’s out then – or as near as makes no difference. Out of Sats results, out of buses for next term, out of luck with summer holiday weather. Out of patience, very likely.
Lessons in how not to deal with knife crime
Published 15 July 2008
How would you shock a kid with a knife into changing his vicious, stabbing ways? Throw him into jail for a few years – right?
Criticise our buildings and our weather – but please, don’t find fault with Cumbria’s welcome
Published 11 July 2008
My word, Carlisle has taken some low body blows lately. Visitors and locals alike have been uncommonly vociferous in their criticism of our poor old city; depressingly pessimistic about her future revival prospects.
Speak plainly to me – just don’t use any words or I could very well be unwittingly offended
Published 4 July 2008
It doesn’t do to be a plain speaker. Just ask Pam. A lifetime of speaking her mind – in a well-mannered way, of course – has been tipped right off kilter. And she’s not happy.
How do we bring down teen pregnancy rates? Save phone boxes and get rid of boys of course
Published 27 June 2008
It’s probably just another one of those signs of the times – the kind that makes you feel your age and want to sit down for a bit. They’re closing down telephone boxes and opening up after-school sex clinics. How the heck did that happen?
In sad times like these, it’s easy to be amazed by Cumbria’s sheer warmth and closeness
Published 20 June 2008
It’s most tragically unnatural for a parent to survive a child. When life’s anticipated order is overturned by calamity, painful sense of injustice is palpable.
