He picks up the bottle, pours out of it a stream of bitter and slanderous lies. I stand for truth: I am bombarded, yet I stand, embattled, battle-hardened. The tirade of abuse hits like a hurricane, but my limbs are seasoned timber: I have weathered many storms. Where there is hatred, let me bring love…... Continue Reading →
Prime Minister Burris Jackson addresses the people of Brexitannia, after the Corollavirus outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation... "We face an invisible, unprecedented enemy. We are fighting a foe we cannot see, with the simple tools of soap, water, and our own singing voices. Remember to wash your hands for... Continue Reading →
It's getting closer to home now: easy to ignore unliveable wet bulb temperatures in the Indus Valley, perhaps, but when whole towns are decimated just down the road in Germany, even the ears of the deaf start to prick up. Still want your pipeline now, Angela? Meanwhile, across the Channel, the new Health Secretary has... Continue Reading →
The labyrinth of life. There's no ball of string for it, is there? And it seems to be full of Minotaurs. At some point in early childhood, you become aware that one day you are going to die, and you might well ask: 'What the hell does it all mean then?' I remember wondering if... Continue Reading →
Spring has whispered its spell over the barren countryside turning the brown, one green. It has not yet reached the high karst mountain summits, but in the stand of beach cladding the slopes, witness its reaching. Another week, another day, another hour, and there will be a time for such a summit. Now the wild... Continue Reading →
**Warning: contains strong language!** Some days are hard they're like swimming through treacle and you drink tea then you drink coffee then you drink more coffee then you drink tea again and you eat chocolate you eat biscuits and you eat more chocolate and its only caffeine and sugar but you're still a kind of... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, the great bones of my life feel so heavy, and I wonder, where on earth does it come from, all this weight? There is a song lyric: ‘what’s that secret sorrow that your carryin?’ But it’s no great secret: bereavement, separation, loss. I feel bereaved by every memory which hijacks my senses unexpectedly from... Continue Reading →
‘Time it was, and what a time it was, it wasA time of innocence, A time of confidences…’ Such was the time I spent with my Grandmother. Her home was always a place of sanctuary: she stayed up all hours of the night and was always glad of company. She could sit for hours recounting... Continue Reading →
