I love potatoes and I love Barry Manilow. I bet that Barry loves potatoes too because his mother was Irish, and I have yet to meet an Irish person who does not hold a solemn appreciation for the potato. Mind you, Barry doesn’t have the figure of a man who enjoys his spuds; he is … Continue reading I Love You Barry Manilow
I went to a gig last night without leaving my kitchen table. It was online, of course, the way everything is these days. I switched off the overhead light, flicked on the Christmas lights that remain attached to the wall (I don’t think they’ll ever come down), and I sat still. My life, in its … Continue reading Things Are Bound to be Improving
Yes, it’s amazing, a lifesaver, a blessing, and where would we all be without it? But, all that aside – and just between me and you – isn’t it beginning to drive you mad? I use it once a day (at least), and it does give me a break from my own company, but some … Continue reading My Whole Wide World Went Zoom
I’ve not got any, even though apparently one third of Scots aged 26-40 have at least one. Ok, so I fall out of that age bracket, but I reckon I’m unlikely to fall into the ‘inked up’ category at this stage of my life; although you never know, didn't David Dimbleby take a rush of … Continue reading Edinburgh Tattoo
I phoned my friend the other night. It’s a bad time of the year for him, the marking of an anniversary that makes him sad. ‘It was a night just like this,’ he told me, ‘gorgeous, still, warm; swallows skimming the grass. I sat out late enjoying an evening that lasted forever, and then the … Continue reading Happiness
I was out on Sunday evening with J. and P., to listen a band. They have quite a following, so the pub was hopping. Everyone was cheerful, spilling with friendliness, more alive because of what music does to us: administers a shot of adrenalin. August night, under a red moon, 2001: U2 playing to an … Continue reading Please, Mrs. Avery
Last weekend I went to see Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary performance of ‘Spring!’ (billed with an exclamation mark). Ever since, I have been fixated with and thinking about the human body. I’m doing it now: sitting in the window seat of a café watching a woman walk past carrying three striped hula hoops: yup, she’s shaped … Continue reading Bend, Bounce, Bound
My walls are being rattled, my ceilings tremble as they’re pounded from above, and loud thuds are studding my early morning dreams. I suppose it can't be sovery early when the builders get going, up there, with their sledge-hammers and mattocks, but I’m no early riser. ‘Up there’ is the flat above me, where - … Continue reading Rattle Your Walls
In both the religious and the secular world, November is the month of remembering the dead: the ordinary dead, the glorious dead, the forgotten dead. Remembrance Sunday fell this month and people are still wearing their poppies (a smattering of white now joining the red). They are probably worn for different reasons: to respectfully call … Continue reading Past Glories
There’s an Irish jig called, ‘I Buried My Wife and Danced On Her Grave’. Awful, isn't it? Lovely tune though. There’s another called, ‘Get Up Old Woman and Shake Yourself’, and then there’s, ‘When Sick is it Tea You Want?’ Tunes are normally played in sets of three; I’m thinking those three would be quite … Continue reading The Happy Mistake
My Edinburgh Press 