A short podcast brought on by the fact that I have had to send my false teeth away once again to be repaired. We travel to 1962 to find out why I have to have false teeth. We move on over the years to hear about the progress of my teeth and what they had to change over the years. We come to the present day where my teeth are made of modern high grade metal that can cope with the vagaries of living in my mouth!! The big question is, would a modern cricket helmet have prevented all these proble...
This is a story about New Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire. A new town built around 1800 and the first of a series of dreams of John Parkinson. The town was a success despite the fact that it had no original road connections to anywhere and the architectural designs of the town were a mix of country and city. This is a fascinating town with an amazing history that is still ongoing. John Parkinson's third dream made him bankrupt, but he was also an amazing man to have such foresight. Than...
It was another trip to the Ford Motor Company, but it was not so funny this time. A moments inattention.......... Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories. You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows on our YouTube Channel at "cracker books on youtube". WEB SITE CHANGE: New Web site at www.crackerbooks.fr At the same time, Cracker Books have produced 10 complete page turning e-books on their own Site. All the books are free to downlo...
Another Goliath and Bonnie story from Lincolnshire's Northcote Heavy Horse Centre in the 1990s. Drama and stress on a cold wet night. You can download Goliath's own online picture storybook from our bookcase site at: http://online.flipbuilder.com/crackerbooks/ All downloads are free and there are 9 other books for you to look at. Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories. You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows on our YouTube Chan...
The title of this story in our books is "How Many Tablets," but I now prefer the title above! This is another Goliath and Bonnie story from Lincolnshire's Northcote Heavy Horse Centre in the 1990s. You can access Goliath's own online picture storybook from our Book Case site at http://online.flipbuilder.com/crackerbooks/ All downloads are free and you can use any device you choose. There are 10 books on the bookcase, try a different one too! Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio s...
It came about in 1986 and we were living close to Spilsby in Lincolnshire. Sir John Franklin, Spilsby’s most famous “son” was born there in 1786 and subsequently lost his life together with the rest of his crew and two ships, undertaking the expedition to find the “North West Passage” in 1848. This was the most sought after route “around the top of the World” which it was hoped, could allow vessels to reach the Pacific Ocean without having to risk that long, dangerous voyage around South Amer...
Back to that interview with my lady surgeon who happened to say, “well the only little problem you might have with the new lenses is that your extreme peripheral vision might be affected when driving in the dark.” “Oh that’s ok then, I replied. “I do not normally drive after dark and anyway the last time was for my last check up with Dr,…. my Opthalmologist last week when I got home at 1.30am in the morning.” “I.30am,” she exploded. “ Did I hear correctly, are you sure.” &nb...
A story from the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre in about 2005. On a wet and windy night one of the horses managed to dislocate my right shoulder. Unfortunately, it was the same shoulder that I had broken when falling over "that" dog only a month previously. The story goes on as I travelled to my out patients appointment on my motor bike with the sling loose around my neck! Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories. You can follow many of these with added film and photograph...
This is a re write of the story "Incident with Queen Mary." Just a few changes. It involves a contingent of CCF Naval Section Cadets let loose on HMS Vanguard while in Portsmouth Harbour. Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories. You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows on our YouTube Channel at "cracker books on youtube". WEB SITE CHANGE: New Web site at www.crackerbooks.fr At the same time, Cracker Books have produce...
We were going into all this. Perhaps it was good that these machines had wheels, that would help when we touched the sand way out at sea. You will have to imagine that you are taking a journey into rough offshore seas with breaking waves, in a steel motorised bathtub with wheels. I do not remember anything of lifejackets or the like. If we did have them in the 1950s they would have been those dreadful double-sided cork contraptions that you would see issued to the unfortunat...
This is a story about a Bus Journey, well several bus journeys really. A story of "Financial aspirations" of a 6 year old in 1950. The scene is Harrogate, Yorkshire, in the North of England. A very smart and affluent town with more Rolls Royce cars to the mile than any other town in England! All for the sake of a half penny! Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories. You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows on our YouTube Channel a...
Letter from France continued.... MILOU'S FIRST BRUSH WITH THE LAW. We were driving a car originally registered in the Uk but that we had since imported into Franceand was now French registered! Driving carefully on entering the town I had seen a light like a torch pointing in my direction. Getting closer it began to wave from side to side and eventually I could see the blue uniform behind the light. There was only very basic street lighting in the town and by now it was 9.30 in t...
One of our first losses around Christmas was our very first Shire Horse Ebony. He retired from Young and Cos Brewery in 1988 and came back to live with us in Lincolnshire. He helped us with the opening of the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre, in fact, he was the star during those first few years. You see he had already been a television personality during his time at Youngs Brewery. Blue Peter the famous BBC television programme for Children had him in their studio. He was also a favourite of Her...
A letter from France 1st October 2022. TODAY I MANAGED TO STOP THE TRAINS ON THE MAIN LINE! Not intentionally, well not really, but you see the local crossing barriers were stuck. I had set out on my normal dog exercise trip with Mango and hey presto we found the crossing barriers in the down position. (We cross the main line from Tours to Nantes every morning on our excursion.) No bells ringing but the lights were flashing happily. A small van had approached the crossing ahead of us, ...
This particular day, I had just pulled in to the side of the road close to the depot entrance, when there was an almighty bang and the front of the roof of the tyre retail premises was lifted off the brick cladding over the main front doors. The dust and mess was considerable, covering much of the surrounding area. I moved to go inside with caution, not knowing what I would be looking at. Were there any bodies laying around? Was that the final bang or were there to be more? In fact it was the...
The Official launch of the twinning with Boston and Fresnay was a big event. Spilsby took a local community Brass Band and their were representatives from local football teams, young farmers clubs and other associations. The actual event took a whole week end, Saturday and Sunday. Visitors from Lincolnshire were accomodated in local homes and several families still maintain happy relationships even today. Now to the main theme of our story......what twinning really means. I was st...
The local surgery has five partners. I have tried almost all of them and my current doctor is brusque and always very much to the point. I like his straight forward “no nonsense” approach, but many do not. He began,” after everything else you have encountered this year, you will “walk” this examination.” “Anyway, he concluded it is a very expensive form of heart check up and you are getting it without waiting and for free!” End of argument. I telephoned the office of the secretary to the hear...
If I remember, I won and would have liked nothing better than to drive with John thorough the French Countryside for four days or so as fast as we could go, with safety. However, and it was a big however. It was only two and a half years after I had experienced a heart attack and really thought it inadvisable to take on something so stressful when I was still not really sure how stable the old ticker was from day to day!! I believe John had second thoughts too as he was married with a young f...
A TIME OF TRIAL Our bank were trying to foreclose on our mortgage because it had not been paid for over six months, we had over 15 very large Heavy Horses of various breeds in our care. Some like Goliath and Big Bonnie had very serious and also “expensive” health problems We owed huge amounts to our feed merchant and vet as well as countless smaller suppliers. Here I must mention the Vet practice. At that time we owed them over £10.000. They were fully aware of the situation and our intention...
“They’re frightened of you in the x ray department,” he continued. “But I must have this shot down at the joint.” I couldn’t for the life of me think why they should be frightened! I was in this trolley with sides, although coming to think of it one does feel something like a caged animal! And perhaps the mud and muck didn’t help either! Well after that, I couldn’t get the arm down again. The problem seemed to be the trolley getting in the way of the x-ray machine and all we got again w...