This time two years ago, September 2020, we were deep in the throes of the Covid pandemic, mired in lockdowns and uncertainty. A vaccine was on its way, that much we knew, but we didn’t know when it would be administered, if it would work, or how much of a winter of isolation lay ahead. … Continue reading Once Upon a Time in Edinburgh
‘The devil is in the detail’ - it’s an awfully cautious expression. Used to alert us to tripwires made from words, to snare traps hidden in contracts or agreements. It makes an assumption that ‘they’ are out to get you in the small print. I don't think it’s a great training for life if we … Continue reading Devil In The Detail
I’m heading home later today, to the north coast of County Antrim. It’s not long since I’ve been there, just over three months, and although I don't live there anymore, and I’ve not lived there for any great length of time in twenty odd years, I still look on it as home. I suppose I … Continue reading Longing and Belonging
I’m off to lie in the sun (I hope) for a week. Flying this afternoon. And I’m humming The Beatles into myself. ‘Send me a postcard, Drop me a line, Stating point of view, Indicate precisely what you mean to say, Yours sincerely, Wasting away.” Remember? From the song, ‘When I’m 64’. Sending postcards has … Continue reading Drop Me A Postcard
Trains are a great place for inspiration. Trains are where writers watch, listen and drink in ideas. Take Paula Hawkins’ best-selling, ‘Girl on a Train’, Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, or Albert Camus’ ‘L’Étranger’ - they must all have been inspired, one way or another, from journeys they’d made by train. I’m not … Continue reading Forms
I’m heading into York soon to catch a train north. The sound of suitcase wheels clicking over the cobbles will forever remind me of this city. I suppose it is the combination of the place having so many visitors, and a city centre that is largely closed to traffic, thus forcing people down the two-legged … Continue reading Look Up
I’m back in Yorkshire for a few days. Mostly I’ve been in York itself, town of snickets and ginnels, inviting little passageways that you might call an alley, close, entry or vennel, depending upon where you come from. Last time I was down here was December and I could barely move through the narrow streets, … Continue reading Yorkshire Sayings
The Bayeux Tapestry is coming to the British Museum in 2020 on loan from the French. It might seem to be too early to be talking about it, but two years is a blink of the eye when you consider that it hasn't left France for 950 years. The museum in Bayeux, Northern France, where … Continue reading May I Borrow It?
Walking around Edinburgh at any time of the year, but especially at summertime on the Royal Mile, I’m a sucker for groups of people gathered around street performers. Over I’ll trot, sheep-like, blindly going with the flow and I’ll stand, watch and wait. I linger waiting for the interminable preamble of performer/crowd banter before we … Continue reading Turner in Edinburgh
Ask someone about the super power they would most like to have, and apparently the top answer is: the ability to read other people’s minds. Wow - that might be the end of a few marriages! I can’t think of anything worse. I was mulling it over as I was sitting in the silence of … Continue reading Super Powers
My Edinburgh Press 