APHA holds Get Ready Day celebration

APHA celebrated its first-ever Get Ready Day in September by sponsoring a Get Ready Fun Fest at Tubman Elementary School in northwest D.C. ...

This week in pandemic flu, emerging infectious disease news: Livestock and disease

Livestock that live in close proximity to humans can help infectious disease make the jump from animals to people, which puts veterinary and...

Lighting-up Time

Recent events in my life have made me think about taking up the smoking arts once again. I've forgotten exactly when it was I threw the ...

Plenty of flu shots available, U.S. health officials say

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention kicked off its seasonal flu vaccine campaign this week with good news: There should be plen...

This week in pandemic flu, emerging infectious disease news: International spread of disease

Infectious diseases aren't stopped by international borders, recent news shows. Whether it is a little-known mosquito-borne disease gain...

Going Mad in Bedfordshire

Wandering down Bedfordshire lanes one day I glanced through a gap in the trees and saw this building catching the intermittent late afternoo...

Beach Life No.1

So we come to the end of summer. Buckets and spades hung up in the beach hut, the Primus stove put back on the garage shelf as autumn winds ...

Pythouse Straw Girl

The Pythouse estate is situated in that curious (even slightly spooky) countryside that sits in a green triangle between Wilton and Mere, in...

Magic Numbers

I can never drive past King's Lynn in Norfolk without turning off and having a look around the quayside. All spruced up now, it's ba...

Railway Echo No.3

Amidst all the railway franchise changes in our meaningless 'customer service' culture, it's good to see a reminder of when it w...

Spiritual Fire

There is much to be enjoyed in the church at North Cerney, tucked-up against trees above the Cheltenham to Cirencester road. A pulpit bowl h...

Underfoot 2

The Victorian age is like an enormous shout, the echoes of which still rebound around us. Railway stations, waterworks, civil and commercial...

Thatcher's England

The phrase 'Unmitigated England' comes from John Betjeman's poem Great Central Railway Sheffield Victoria to Banbury . He was in...

Railway Echo No 2

I came across this level crossing gate on a lane in Fordham, Norfolk. I would imagine the hedgerow has now completely obliterated it, reclai...

Posting Dilemma

I've always had a thing about post boxes, and tend to photograph them all the time on my travels. Apart from being very graphic objects-...

Railway Echo No 1

In the fields at the back of my cottage there is a hefty-looking embankment running across the landscape. Part of the remains of a railway l...

Home Furniture

Home furniture is the collective term for the movable objects at home that support to the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide s...

Market Forces

Borough Market in Southwark is one of my favourite places in London. Particularly on a Friday lunchtime when not only is there a bewildering...

Mirror Image

Genuine pub mirrors are getting rarer. They were always vulnerable to someone putting a pint glass or somebody's head through them, and ...

All Dressed-Up

I'm not normally interested in frocks. Well, only sometimes, but I couldn't resist this shop window in Market Harborough. It was in ...

Barks and Spencer

Hearing somebody talking on the radio recently about the ancient practice of Swan Upping, I recalled Stanley Spencer's painting of the s...

Bentley Boys

We've all walked around sunny fields looking at classic cars lined-up for inspection. Pristine Rileys, exceptional Wolseleys, all done-u...

Lost in the Woods

The lane got narrower and narrower. 'It's down here somewhere', my friend said, looking increasingly worried, 'I'm sure ...

Austin Powered

Carter's run a traditional funfair. I first came across them in Chiswick one rainy Sunday evening, and was immediately transfixed by the...

News from Hull

A few years ago Railtrack sent me out photographing anything that appealed to me on their vast estate, most of which was news to them when I...

Flying Down to Rio

Small independent cine mas should be cherished. This is the Rio in Burnham-on-Crouch and I hope it's still there. The poster outside is ...

Underfoot 1

It's funny how even the most mundane of things can suddenly become embued with interest. I don't normally wander along streets with ...

Harvest Home

One of my pleasures at this time of the year is watching big bits of kit at work in the fields. And avoiding them on the road. This afternoo...

Back to Nature

I've got a thing about lettering, particularly when it crops up in unexpected places. You will always find stuff like this in the remote...

Getting Allegro Over

You don't see many Austin Allegros around these days. Ask anyone who had one and they'd probably give you a few good reasons why. I...

Cardington Arrest

These simply gigantic buildings have been arresting the attention ever since they were first built at Cardington in Bedfordshire, in the ear...

Welgar Shredded Wheat

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by well-known brand names that could be seen on factories at the side of railway lines. It s...

Rhubarb, rhubarb

Until my Dorset pals told me, I didn't realise what a big thing rhubarb was in these parts. This little hut (three sticks for a pound) w...

Jerusalem Tavern

Every now and then someone really gets it right. Forget all those faux Irish pubs with e-bay bought set dressing, forget the pastiches of tr...

Tidal Reaches 1

I have a great friend who insists on living in Italy, even though he is possibly the most English Englishman I've ever met. Although ver...

The Rattlesden Straw Man

There's something about scarecrows. And I don't really mean those made with Scarecrow Festivals in mind, but the genuine article, m...

The Owston White Horse

Out in lonely east Leicestershire is a lane that leads over to the little village of Owston. I often go there just to wander about in the ch...

Crowland Abbey

I think this picture sums up much about how I feel about England. Crowland Abbey is out on the Lincolnshire Fens north of Peterborough, crea...