The Buddhas of Henshaw Street Movement-stopping sweat-dripping breath stealing pavement-shimmering air-deadening heat. Slow down. Stop. When every single minor movement has the power to induce the pores to break out into spontaneous torrents of perspiration, it’s difficult to motivate the […]
“What shall I wear tonight?” thought Leah as she mindfully covered her vintage French bed with her marshal like dresses and her warden-like shoes. Skipper lay sleeping on his new carpet square of early evening sunshine; “C’mon Skipper. Help me […]
‘Resilience’ is the key word of the moment. At least, it is at the school in which I teach. For the last year or so, in form time, assemblies and all lessons ranging from English to PE and Technology, we, […]
With a nostalgic inhalation of seaweed and a gentle hand clasp of tiny winkle shells, Leah mindfully glanced the length and breadth of the long and meandering promenade. Skipper predictably zig-zagged at speed up and down the beach stopping only […]
Raising her eyes up and away from the warm suds of the washing up bowl Leah looked mindfully at the three windows that neighboured her own. “One, two, three spider plants,” she counted. Leah pondered and wondered if her new […]
Rat! As sudden and unexpected as that: one word, three letters. Rat! It may only have been one word, a short, simple noun, and this particular rat may have been dead, but this little six-inch bundle of fur, laying in […]
I paused briefly, kneeling at the water’s edge, waiting for that split-second when the next small wave splashed on the pebbles at my feet. Fwush, it crumbled gently upon the shingle then began to drag itself backward, teasing along the […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
The last few months have been difficult to endure. Normally a staunch fan of autumn and winter, even I have been forced to think twice this year. Whether it’s down to El Nino, climate change, the planet’s cycles or, more […]
The 16th of March has come around again. So what? you may ask, as would anyone else whose birthday or anniversary doesn’t happen to fall on that day. What’s so special about a nondescript day that barely has a toehold […]
