Books of Poems by
An Old Codger
SECOND EDITION
A new, extended, second edition of POEMS BY AN OLD CODGER is now available in a six-book series of rhyming poetry at Amazon Books and Amazon Kindle.
The author offers a personal account of the social history of the 20th Century.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
on
THE UNITED KINGDOM
December 2024
Cases – 25,021,035
Deaths – 232,112
Wikipedia
CONTENTS
2020
Extracts from the Institute for Government Analysis.
COVID -19 and my feathered friends.
COVID -19 A Wake-Up Call.
COVID -19 and You.
Our Diamond Jubilee – 2020.
Our Milkman.
Elephants Never Forget.
The Second Battle of Britain.
Lock Down in the Garden.
Christmas at COVID -19 Time.
Masked Intruder!
A year of COVID-19.
2021
Extracts from the Institute for Government Analysis.
I’m in Lockdown.
Our Zoom Anniversary.
Lockdown for me.
Our COVID-19 Jab.
Don’t Fence Me In.
Working from Home.
COVID-19 A Self-Assessment.
Love One Another.
2022
A Review of COVID-19 – 1 Observations on the event.
A Review of COVID-19 – 2 Its Impact on Towns.
Do as I say, not as I do.
BMA’s submission to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, (Extract)
Born in the late 1930’s, he grew up in a Welsh mining community during World War Two, writes of family mining tragedies, military service, life in the post-war 50’s and 60’s, the Beatles era, and the Cold War.
The series also includes poems on the author’s observations on modern life and COVID-19 lockdown.
The Old Codger
Neil Davies
Extract from the FOREWORD to BOOK ONE.
“As I move through my four score years, I guess that my compatriots and I owe our children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren a huge apology for allowing our world to become not as we found it when we came into this life.
We have poisoned the land, the seas, and the air. In so many ways we have reached for the stars whilst killing off our own star….”
.
Neil has been married to his wife Joy for over sixty years and they have four children, ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
A Chartered Engineer with a M. Sc. in Applied Psychology, Neil holds the rank of Squadron Leader, serving as an Education Officer in the Royal Air Force for 16 years. During his service career he was awarded the military symbol ‘d.f’ on completion of a Defence Fellowship at UWIST, Cardiff. He later held senior positions in both HE and FE.
From the age of 17, Neil was organist and choirmaster for over 30 years, wherever he resided, and for many years enjoyed male voice choral singing.
For further information please go to the author’s email:-
[email protected] or his Instagram page:- thomasdavies82
Recent musings from An Old Codger
GROWING OLD
I grew up in a mining village where many underground miners lived for only a few years after they retired, if they lived to retirement. Many did not reach retirement. I often walk around the village cemetery when visiting the family grave and so many graves...
SCAMS AND HACKING
How many of us old codgers are living in daily fear of being hacked? How do you know if an email, letter, telephone call is a threat or scam, or not. We are advised to be alert, on our guard, so much so that whenever I pick up the phone and a voice asks to speak to...
BEWARE PRIDE
This blog is about virtuous pride in one’s ability but merging on to self- idolatry. It relates to the poem BEWARE PRIDE in BOOK ONE of my books POEMS BY AN OLD CODGER and is a lesson to all entering the teaching profession. In the Autumn of 1959, I was one of the...
TRANSPORTATION (THIS TINY ISLAND – 3)
A brief review of how man and goods have been transported across our tiny island over the years. I marvel at what Britain has achieved. A small island by comparison, and life was hard, but they ‘put their shoulder to the wheel’ when Britain was ‘Great’ and the Kingdom...
CELEBRITIES?
I had to ask myself – Who or what is a celebrity? A title constantly ‘banded about’ that’s now attributed to so many, who I find do not deserve such an accolade. A self -perpetuating group that we now know have, on occasions, included sex offenders, child...
FAMILY TRAGEDY 2
In an earlier blog, I wrote of my family enduring three tragedies in three years. The loss of my maternal grandfather (my Taid) in the Gresford mine disaster in 1934, one of the 266 men and boys, was a national event mourned by all nationwide. The second family...
PROCRASTINATION
The thief of time: Miss Mona Stangley (Dolly Parton) is the owner of ‘The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas’, according to Hollywood*, offering entertainment of various kinds to many local Texans. However, Melvin P Thorpe, TV reporter, thought otherwise and publicises...
TATTOOS
Tattoos were on the fringe of society many years ago. Not so today. I fail to understand how anyone in the Western world would want to abuse their body’s skin with tattoos. A small heart, anchor, a word or two I can accept, but face and neck, chest and back,...
SHOPPING DURING LOCKDOWN
COVID-19 arrived and LOCKDOWN was considered necessary to keep Britain safe. The impact of LOCKDOWN was immense. Schools closed, workers were furloughed, and masks were the order of the day when leaving the home and venturing out to shops and healthcare providers....
WORKING FROM HOME
LOCKDOWN followed the arrival of COVID-19, and we were all advised to stay home. If we had to venture out, it was mask on face and supermarkets limited shoppers allowed inside, one in for one out. Schools closed to protect the young, the elderly in care gave cause for...
SPARROWS
From our kitchen window we have watched a flock of sparrows daily descending on the shrubs growing against our fence. A summer flowering Jasmine, a winter flowering one, and a thorny Pyracantha with its red berries in time for winter, providing food and cover which...
INSTANT WORLD
I feel we are all living at a pace that is ruining our health, even shortening our lives. Life in my young days was standing to use the village public telephone, at the bus stop awaiting transport to work, or to go shopping, or to seek entertainment, is now replaced...