Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

School trips that I went on:

Blue John Caverns, Castleton, Derbyshire
Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, Cheshire
School's outward-bound camping barn, Cawthorne, near Barnsley
Circus at Doncaster
Nature trail at High Melton Campus, Doncaster
Houses of Parliament/Palace of Westminster, London

In some ways it's not my favourite time of the year. It's quite cold this morning and so I put on my heavy coat, not realising until I'd got to the end of the street that my wallet was in my jacket...it will be a lot simpler when it's cold enough so that I need to wear my coat every day; knowing that my wallet is in the inside pocket.

And then on Sunday morning there'll be all the inconvenience of having to put the clocks, and my watch back an hour.

An elderly gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked, sarcastically. The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained.

"Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."