• 27 February 2021
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Short story: To Whom It May Concern

I hadn’t seen her for over 30 years − until last night that is.  I’m afraid her sudden reappearance after such a long absence feels, well, ominous.   Hence this note.  Just in case. I didn’t believe she’d left me at first.  I  just carried on with my life, keeping busy, trying to get it back on an even keel, expecting her to turn up sooner or later.  And now she has.  She was always secretive, never one to explain herself.  […]

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  • 24 February 2021
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Self-isolation: Day 346

I’ve completely adapted  to being an introverted recluse, perhaps not surprising after nearly a year.  When I go out now for my permitted one hour of brisk walking I’ve not only become adept at avoiding people, I have started to relish it!  I treat people as aliens, spotting them from afar and giving them a wide berth.  This often involves striking off across a rough field or, even more perilous, stepping out into the road while the aliens saunter along […]

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  • 25 January 2021
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Short story: The Aspen Tree

Bare trees branch forlornly Blood vessels feed a dirty cotton wool sky And smoky clouds are passing by. Maggie read the words again then, after polishing her reading glasses on her apron, she looked at the questions that followed: 1.  What does ‘branch forlornly’ convey to you? 2.  Why do you think the poet uses blood vessels as a metaphor for ‘feeding’ the sky? 3.  What do the descriptions of the sky tell you about the weather? 4.  Assume these […]

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  • 28 December 2020
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Short story: The Obsession

He was the last person you’d suspect of having itchy fingers.  Having led a blameless life, a yellow skip outside the pub, a mile or so from the vicarage, unexpectedly unsettled him. The Reverend William Stenning, affectionately nicknamed Father Bill by his flock, was a large, rotund man, bald, in his late fifties, with a kindly face and twinkling eyes.  At a recent jumble sale, a couple of parishioners running the second-hand bookstall had showed him a picture of Friar […]

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  • 23 December 2020
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Metaphor or idiom?

Boris Johnson’s government have become famous (well, more accurately, infamous) for over-promising and under-delivering. They are also spectacularly good at trotting out idiomatic (notice how close the word ‘idiomatic’ is to ‘idiotic’) expressions such as Priti Patel’s recent claim that the government have ‘consistently been ahead of the curve’. I’ve been having fun collecting metaphors and/or idioms (the ‘and/or’ is because I’m not 100 percent sure I understand the difference) whilst listening to government briefings. Here is a small selection. […]

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  • 16 December 2020
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Day 276: V Day

A few days ago I received a text from my GP surgery inviting me to phone to book a Covid inoculation.  This was simultaneously a delightful surprise and a shock.  Fancy, with the miraculous vaccine barely having reached these shores, being summoned so early.  But might it mean, in addition to being over 80, that they (that’s Boris and co) have me categorised as vulnerable?  Perhaps they mistakenly think I’m already in a care home?    As a half-full person […]

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  • 19 November 2020
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Short story: The Artist

  To give him his due, Algernon was the first to admit that he was an arrogant sod.  An only son, born into a wealthy family, brought up in a stately home with a flag flying from the tower, schooled by a private tutor, waited on by servants − he had led a charmed life. When he was ten years old he inherited an endowment from his grandfather who was accidentally shot by his gamekeeper. The inheritance was generous and […]

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  • 11 November 2020
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Day 242

  Ah, the joys of Lockdown 2.  Each small adventure is magnified into an Adventure. I had occasion to visit the local Post Office with an urgent package.  This calls for some careful planning.  Get out my credit card, my mask (and a spare in case the elastic breaks), a disposable plastic glove so that my unprotected fingers don’t have to touch the keypad to get back in, oh, and the package too  of course.  Than off on a perilous […]

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  • 30 October 2020
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Day 230

  I’ve had one of those extraordinary days when, try as I might, I’ve achieved absolutely nothing, apart from going round in circles not of my creation: circles I didn’t want to go round. Actually, I’ve had a few days like this recently. About a week ago my laptop was hacked and all my incoming emails were redirected to a bogus email address.  Over the course of a few days, and after many calls to BT and much puzzlement, the […]

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  • 22 October 2020
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Short story: The Dog Walker

  It was only after we’d been meeting for a few months that it dawned on me she never asked me any questions.  None at all.  Not a flicker of curiosity. When we first met, on a crisp February morning with frost glistening on the fields, she’d chatted apologetically about her frisky new dog, explaining that he was only half way through his obedience training.  By contrast, my rescue dog treated the enthusiastic sniffing and molesting with utter distain.  I […]

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Meetings, lovely meetings!

I see that meetings are getting a bad press again.  A new survey has found that nearly a million people spend half their working week in meetings and that at least a third of that time is wasted waiting for late-comers. Waiting for late-comers is crazy; it punishes the people who have taken the trouble to arrive on time and fails to inconvenience those who haven’t.   Indeed, waiting for late-comers actually trains people not to arrive on time; why bother […]

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Short story: To Whom It May Concern

I hadn’t seen her for over 30 years − until last night that is.  I’m afraid her sudden reappearance after such a long absence feels, well, ominous.   Hence this note.  Just in case. I didn’t believe she’d left me at first.  I  just carried on with my life, keeping busy, trying to get it back on an even keel, expecting her to turn up sooner or later.  And now she has.  She was always secretive, never one to explain herself.  […]

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“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behaviour”