Ed Vogue's World

It is now over two months since the summer solstice, June 20th. Now all of a sudden we seem to have sped through the summer and are just about to screech into September.  The scorching hot days, the late night swim in the English Channel, the fast melting ice cream cones and the sunburnt neck all seem to be a distant memory. Waking up this morning the heating (the thermostat turned right down) kicked in with the gentle whumph of the boiler ignition. I’m not sure if whumph is a word but it is exactly like the onomatopoeic word for my boiler.  Just like the start of Mary Poppins the wind has changed, there is a chill about the place. Autumn is fast taking the place of Summer. As the children prepare to go back to school Christmas suddenly doesn’t feel that far away.  There are many other signs of the seasonal change, apples fallen from the branches, conkers exploding from their casings under the horse chestnut trees, the worm-casts on the lawn in the softer ground and the f...

I have been fascinated by time travel ever since watching Back to the Future when I was young. I always wondered what it would be like to go back in time, to see how buildings, towns and cities looked in the past, to smell the smells and experience the lives of the people living in the same space but a different time.  Of course as a kid I also watched Dr Who and although when he, now she, travels in the TARDIS this never really felt like pure time travel, as the Doctor also moved about in space visiting different planets, except during the reign of Jon Pertwee, where perhaps the lack of a BBC budget marooned him on planet Earth in a yellow car called Bessie.  No, I was more interested in how time affected one place. Perhaps the best example of this is in the 1960’s classic film telling of H.G. Wells The Time Machine, where George travels in time from his Victorian conservatory workshop through the First and Second World War’s watching as the local London scene changes ravaged...

I was talking to my son the other day about how big world events often have some lasting legacy and change peoples lives in small insignificant ways and sometimes more substantially. As time moves by and one generation becomes the next these changes become ingrained in the day to day world. They become the ‘new normal’.  My son was born after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, on that day as I along with millions across the globe watched the shocking scenes of these man-made Goliath's falling to the ground people could feel in their bones that this event would change the world. And so it did. To my son’s generation this is just how the world is.  Trying to explain to my kids how the world was before one of the most influential inventions, the internet, is a futile. How can they even imagine how normal life could carry on when the internet and all its magic is so ingrained in their lives.  As we are all painfully aware we are living through one of those moments in ...

It’s been a few days since my last blog when I wrote about the issues relating to using data and statistics and as a result anomalies in the patterns will always be present. Yet in the case of the statistical algorithm used to determine the exam grades the outliers were individuals with hopes, dreams and aspirations. Young influential people starting out in life not statistical anomalies.  These ‘outliers’ have made their voices clear over the last week and as they have it has become apparent to all that perhaps they were not outliers after all, instead they were the norm. It appears after analysis of the results, by people much more qualified than myself, that a significant number of students have been treated unfairly compared to other groups.  Due to the nature of how this algorithm works it appears to have favoured private selective schools due to small group sizes and stable historical results. Schools and colleges with larger teaching groups and more ‘volatile’ past coho...

Over the last months throughout the pandemic we have heard a lot about statistics and statistical modelling. Statistical results are often held up to be absolute and are often reported in the media without the levels of uncertainty that naturally accompany them.  A good example of this was the statistic being banded around that bald men were more likely to become hospitalised with Covid-19 than men with a full head of hair. This would have caused a degree of alarm for the follicly challenged members of the population. It would suggest that there is a causal link between hairloss and Covid-19. Now perhaps there is I have not accessed the original information from where this came perhaps to do with male hormones?. However it is more likely that this is just a correlation and that the cause is age. Older men are more likely to have complications with the virus and statistically more older men are bald compared to their younger counterparts. Notice that I used the term statistically in...

As I write these words today I am reflecting on the fact that Ed and his Vogers should have been returning from a holiday on the Greek Island of Kefalonia. If you haven’t been then this island is a must, it is still fairly quiet and undisturbed by the party atmosphere that can inhabit those parts of the world. The food everywhere is deliciously simple, fresh and homemade. I have never found grilled sea bass better anywhere else I have eaten it. The pace of life is relaxed and good service can be found everywhere.  The real gem regarding this particular Ionian island is its coastline.  You can find a beach to suit every member of the family from gentle shallow warm waters to the crashing coastline of one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  It is a place that you can see I hold dearly in my heart. This year was to not be. Even though as a family we were the most organised we could have been in this post-pandemic era our holiday had to go by the wayside. Of course in hindsi...

I wrote some eight years ago about the great British BBQ. My views on outside cooking over hot charcoal have not changed. I still believe that the BBQ is a brilliant invention. Since that time I have learnt a lot about the art of this kind of cooking in that time and have been witness to watching and tasting some delicious grilled foods.  As soon as the Sun looks like it’s going to show it’s face the BBQ’s across the nation start to come out from hibernation. First they need some tender loving care to clean off the rigours of the winter season, to clean off the burnt on pieces of burgers and sausages left from the previous September, to remove the spiders that have set up home amongst the old charcoal ashes and to wash off the splattered bird poo from the lid.  Once this is done it is time to let the cooking commence.  Lighting the BBQ is an art in itself. The interweb is full of examples of people setting themselves, their loved ones and their garden sheds alight using a...

A have to admit that I am partial to watching a bit of golf on the telly box. There is something fascinating about following the players on a tournament like The Open. As an armchair admirer you get to see all the action. Every important shot can been seen with the commentary alongside that, on occasions, is as amusing as the Test Match Special of days past.  Members of my family, friends and work colleagues are all golfers and love the game. I have to admit to being intimidated by the whole thing. Golf is full of technical ‘things’. By ‘things’ I mean rules, etiquette, equipment, clothing and words. It’s all a bit too much. This is before I even get into the technique of a golf swing. Those people who know me will understand that I’m not the most coordinated of people. I can throw a ball pretty accurately and pretty far but the coordination involved in catching it completely foxes me. As far as I can tell the golf swing is incredibly involved, coordinating the movement of shoulder...

If you read yesterday’s blog offering yesterday you will have been subject to my views on internet shopping. As I discussed shopping online has its place but it certainly doesn’t beat the hustle and bustle of the real market place. In these current viral times an open air market may well be a safe way to shop if you are able to maintain the required social distancing measures.  I love a market. I love the sights and smells of the marketplace. At a food market you can probably manage to eat an entire meal by just snacking on the free samples that are provided. Slightly annoyingly I have noted that since the markets have reopened the ‘new normal rules’ seem to have curtailed the frequency that these little morsels are made available, leaving me with a slightly empty feeling.  There are a number of great markets in London. By far my favourite is Borough Market adjacent to London Bridge and the Shard. This is a food lovers haven. Gorgeous products including meats, fruits and veget...

For many years the early adopters of online shopping have ruled supreme. The likes of Amazon and Ocado have had the market sewn up. It is easy to look for things in the shops and then find the same item cheaper from the comfort of your own home and have it delivered without having to move from the sofa.  Many companies over the years looked longingly at these pioneering and successful enterprises and wanted to get some of the same action. As the years have gone by every retailer has had to consider their online presence. Whether this is through an in house bespoke solution or piggybacking onto another.  The result is that you can now buy nearly every item you could desire online and have it delivered to your residence or place at work or even have it gift wrapped and delivered to your buddy.  During lockdown with the shops closed this online retail became even more important. At first the supermarkets could not cope with the demand. They prioritised the elderly, vulnerabl...