The temperature is dropping, the days are shortening, the wind is heightening. Morning mists cling. The grass isn't calling to be cut so often. Routine, order, timetables – they’re all being restored. Light cotton dresses are folded and put in the bottom drawer, sandals to the back of the cupboard, the straw hat releases a … Continue reading On The First Day of September
When someone is sure of his or herself, they can be humorously self-deprecating about their imperfections whilst remaining quietly rooted and secure, still believing in their abilities and talents. Take the unlikely example of Bing Crosby’s prominent ears, which he said made him look, ‘like a taxi cab with its doors wide open.’ Or consider … Continue reading Dig In
It’s great fun to be part of lively debate and discussion; whenever there’s a gathering it’s enjoyable to join in, add your tuppence worth to the review and scrutiny of what’s going on in the world, but don’t you ever get tired with it all? Don’t you ever get to a state of analysis paralysis … Continue reading The Hole In Reason’s Ceiling
Sometimes your worst fears come true. They can be small fears, like being landed with a parking ticket in the heart of the countryside on a Sunday afternoon when all you’ve done is to park up on a wide verge so as to take a walk across the moors. Or they can be large fears, … Continue reading Sometimes
‘At the bottom of her heart, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like shipwrecked sailors, she turned despairing eyes upon the solitude of her life, seeking afar off some white sail in the mists of the horizon.’ My book group has just finished reading Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. Insights such as this into … Continue reading Far Off Fields
Blowing things out of all proportion and adopting the out-of-balance perspective – haven’t we all had our fair share of practice at it? I went to get into my car the other day and noticed a ding at the rear right hand side, just above the reverse light. Bodywork dented and scraped, paint gouged and … Continue reading Dust
An apologetic shade of blue. Yes, I can remember what I was wearing quite vividly, even though it was 2003. It’s not that long ago for remembering details, is it? A cheap polyester suit in a tired, non-descript hue; a colour that doesn't make you stand out, one that’s rather sorry for itself, that looks washed … Continue reading Sign From Above
Sometimes April doesn’t keep its promise. It reneges. Burrows back down a hole, pretending it never was. It had been that way this week, when many of us had to check the calendar, only to utter, ‘Really? April 4th? Are we sure about that?’ Character building weather, one might call it, unless one is feeling delicate, … Continue reading April Showers
She was slumped on the Post Office counter like she had placed last orders at a bar, he face pressed close to the thick glass divide. The queue behind her, of which I was a member, was growing. ‘See this letter?’ she stabbed at a dog-eared document, ‘Final notice bill. Says I’ll go to court … Continue reading Moment
I don't know what age children are when they start asking, ‘But why?’ Are they three-years old? Four? And when does the, ‘But why?’ battery wear out? I going to guess it wears out sometime around sixteen; the age at which the questions evaporate because they (kid-ults) know the answer to everything. From such secure … Continue reading But Why?
