Dear reader, it is time, I have decided, for a story about a ship. This one, I promise, is a rather good one, as it is not just about the Mary Celeste herself, but rather the mystery that surrounds her, and more particularly her crew. But we shall get to that in due course. The […]
The Peculiar Awards 2018
Dear reader, the time is now upon us for the first annual Peculiar awards, which are (or at least are intended to be) a bit of a tongue-in-cheek look back at various things I’ve done over the year, which you may or may not find amusing. Bear in mind that this is all entirely my […]
Pearl Harbour’s Little Brother – The Battle of Taranto
Dear reader, it is customary, in the opening paragraph of one of my articles, to remind you of something you may know, as a springboard to letting you know about something that I think you don’t, but may find mildly interesting. Today differs only in that I have inserted this paragraph before that usual first […]
Leaves on the Line is Actually Not a Terrible Excuse
Dear reader, I am sure that, if you live in the UK, “leaves on the line” is an excuse you have heard for the late running of a train. I am also sure that, if you have any sensory capabilities at all, you will have noticed that it is autumn, and, therefore, there are leaves […]
Why “Just put another coach on the end” is Not a Good Way to Run a Railway
Dear reader, you have almost certainly heard this phrase uttered on a crowded train somewhere in the country, or, in an unthinking moment, uttered it yourself. In this article, with hopefully a little less waffling than usual, I hope to explain to you why this is very difficult and is rarely done, and hopefully in […]
The Joy & Despair of Commuting By Bus
Dear reader, you may have noticed, having read many of my previous articles, that I am very much in favour of railways. And there are many good reasons for this, from the sheer economy that comes with steel wheels running on a steel rail, to the incredible safety record of Britain’s railways. However, in some […]
Why the Humble Compact Disc should be Re-evaluated – by Dominic Meakin
Dear reader, you may know, if you saw the public service announcement, that I have been a touch busy recently. One way that I can still provide meaningful content is to invite guest bloggers, and indeed the article you are reading was not written by me, but my good friend Dominic. Without further ado, take […]
A Public Service Announcement
Good (insert time of reading) dear reader. There are some issues with my blog that I felt merited your attention (all in good time of course). In no particular order, these are: The site identity has been changed, on the day I am writing this, just a bit. I was quite fond of the old […]
The Other End of the Spectrum – And What I Learned on Megabus
Dear reader, you may have noticed me going on about first class recently, and I may have mentioned that this is rather unusual as far as my travel arrangements are concerned. Well, recently, the time had come to do something that, once upon a time, never imagined doing – taking a Megabus. I should explain […]
Tying Up Some Loose Ends
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed I leave a lot of notes such as “I may write on this in future” or “more on this in future”. However, if you are an observant reader, you may also have noticed that at no point have I actually written up […]
Peculiarly Pete 