It’s strange how things can, for no apparent reason, form tenuous links out of the ether, links that strengthen and then take hold before finally forming into a single narrative strand. This particular strand began to take shape as I […]
I always look forward to May, more so than ever this year as we cautiously regained our freedoms to see favourite places and friends again. For me, May has always been a month of hope and promise. I enjoy the […]
Hugo Morton and I walk up Barton Hill in the spring-time. The bird-song trills in the woods around us. ‘Hopefully,’ he says, ‘we’ll find a blackbird’s nest.’ We slip through a gap in the low hedge, just below Barton Cottage […]
It is extraordinary to think that a small place like the mining village of Aberaman, between Aberdare and Mountain Ash, should produce 4 world class cyclists at the end of the nineteenth century. There were the three Linton brothers – […]
Twist-cold winds ease And a new breeze breathes fresh music And sweeps gentle song along The floor of nature’s spring toes. Sunbeam raises its gaze And sits warm along the ground Of summer’s foot and untwisted leaves Open shy with […]
It was all Hitler’s fault really. He invaded Poland in September 1939, the month of my conception. (Bet Hitler did not expect that!) A few months later, after my birth, my Dad packed Mum, Marylyn and Christine, my two sisters, […]
It stole in suddenly during the night, stalking like a Saxon Sceadugenga through the streets, obscuring everything that lay beyond the double-glazed panes of the windows. It persisted. I woke up during the night for a drink of water, and […]
‘Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and still and fair; The solemn hour of midnight Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere, But most where trees are sending Their breezy boughs on high, Or stooping low are lending A shelter from the sky. […]
In Llanelly (Llanelli) excitement knew no bounds. Charlie Chaplin was appearing in a ‘screaming burlesque on Carmen.’ We are invited to ‘Go and lighten life’s dull cares and see if you can keep a serious face. Charlie’s equipment alone is […]
Hoof paddled bracken And pondweed frocks. Rose scattered knitting And spout spill rocks. Brown feathered sky And warm free gliders. Hunt twist heads And scrub air raiders. Wind dust hoof And straw faced stare. Barren bellows And wide-eyed hare. Red […]
Swoosh. He would have counted himself lucky he was executed by the axe and not that torturous, laboured execution that awaited some traitors, the hanging, drawing and quartering Henry VIII sometimes reserved for those he’d taken a dislike to. On […]
Pond twinned trees And ether haze. Silent hoof And mirrored gaze. Fox twist turn And hunt fed face. Shape shift moon And white clocked Grace. Black still night And scattered star. Candled clouds And time so far. Whispered walls And […]
