P. D. Clifton

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  • 91: YOUNG AT HEART

    It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m watching Annie play hockey, whilst talking to one of the Hockey Dads. Frankly, I feel a little intimidated whenever I talk to this particular Hockey Dad. He’s the headmaster of a nearby school! A small school, admittedly… but still, a school! A WHOLE school! I’m always nervous I’ll say something…

    piersclifton

    8th Apr 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, christarrant, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, family, fearofaging, fearofoldage, hockey, liztruss, memoir, midlifecrisis, mikeread, nearlyfifty, noeledmonds, phillipschofield, rishisunak, sports, writing
  • 90: HELLO, HEDGEHOG HELPLINE!

    I’m jogging down Bunton Hill by myself, in the darkness. I’m wearing one of those jogging headlamp things… which throws out two perfect intersecting circles of light in front of my face, like an illuminated Venn diagram. As I continue running, I suddenly spot… looming out of the darkness in front of me… this! It’s…

    piersclifton

    31st Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, family, gardeninggloves, hedgehog, hedgehoghelpline, jogging, memoir, savinghedgehogs, writing
  • 89: WILL

    I’m chauffeuring Annie around again, in our clapped-out old car. Right now, we’re heading back from an out-of-season football friendly in our local town. Her team won 3-2. Go the local town girls under-fourteens! As we drive back, suddenly – apropos of nothing – Annie asks: ‘Dad? Have you and Mum got a will?’ Now,…

    piersclifton

    29th Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, debt, family, memoir, will, writing
  • 88: PORTRAITS

    Lizzie gleefully pointed out, earlier, that while there are a number of her portraits of Cedric (our dog) dotted around the house… there are absolutely none of me. As if my standing in the family hadn’t already been made clear enough… Click here for main blog page

    piersclifton

    28th Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    animalportrait, blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, dog, dogportrait, family, memoir, portraits, writing
  • 87: (WHAT A) WASTE OF (WHAT A) WONDERFUL WORLD

    ‘Do you know Pythagoras’ Theorem?’ my daughter asks, as I drive her to hockey on Saturday morning. She’s holding a bunch of coloured ‘flash cards’ – covered in hieroglyphic-like mathematical equations – which she’s using to help her revise for a test coming up after the summer holiday. ‘Something to do with triangles?’ I mutter…

    piersclifton

    13th Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, family, memoir, pythagoras, pythagorastheorem, rightangledtriangles, samcooke, triangles, trigonometry, whatawonderfulworld, wonderfulworld, writing
  • 86: HOLIDAY MEMORIES

    Lizzie and I are about to go on our first walk together – with the dog – for ages. I don’t know why there’s been such a large gap between walks. I guess we’ve just been busy doing our own things. Cedric reacts in his usual way when we shrill the word ‘walkies!’ – and…

    piersclifton

    13th Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, book-review, books, calf, calves, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, countryside, family, fiction, greece, holiday, memoir, sheep, writing
  • 85: DROP DEAD DEADLINE

    At work, we’re rushing to deliver some shots. They’re for a big movie… and we’re working to a big deadline. We have to deliver the seventy shots – on which we’ve been doing post production – to a major film studio, by next Tuesday. The studio are sending us increasingly bossy emails about NOT missing…

    piersclifton

    8th Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, deadline, deadlines, dropdeaddeadline, family, filmproduction, humour, memoir, princephilip, queen, queensfuneral, royalty, writing
  • 84: KEFALONIA – PART 2

    I feel discombobulated in a way I’ve never felt before. Oh sure, I’ve been lost plenty of times before – walking around towns or driving through the countryside (particularly in the pre-satnav age). But I’ve always had a pretty good idea which country I’m in (currently, I’m still not 100% sure we’re even in Greece).…

    piersclifton

    2nd Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, cephalonia, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, family, greece, greekislands, holiday, ionianislands, ioniansea, kefalonia, life, memoir, summer, travel, writing
  • 83: KEFALONIA – PART 1

    Lizzie’s sister H., who’s not short of a penny or two, has incredibly kindly offered to take us all on holiday to Greece. It’s her gesture to Lizzie really – a way of saying ‘I know you’ve had an incredibly shit year, here’s something which will hopefully make you feel a little better.’ We’re actually…

    piersclifton

    2nd Mar 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, cephalonia, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, europe, family, greece, greek-islands, holiday, ionianislands, ioniansea, kefalonia, memoir, summer, travel
  • 82: FESTIVAL

    Lizzie has gone to the WOMAD music festival in Wiltshire, with a friend. It’s the first major excursion she’s done – without the family – since her illness. She’s going to be there from Friday to Sunday: nearly the whole thing. After Lizzie arrives at the festival, she calls and tells me that – despite…

    piersclifton

    27th Feb 2024
    Uncategorized
    blog, books, cancer, cancermemoir, countrylife, countryliving, countrymemoir, family, festival, portaloo, womad, writing
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