Not Knowing What To Expect…

I have never entered a tomb. I would not know how to feel about disturbing the silence that has grown around those dead that have been placed there to slowly turn to hardened matter. I had now expectations as to what was likely to await me but I was fairly certain that nothing that was...

Book Ends…

You're like book ends, the pair of you... I find ending things almost impossible. There is something so agonizingly finite about putting a final stop to something, a fullstop. Books, films, football matches, friendships, relationships, life - all have to end, to reach a final destination, a place to stop...forever. Writing books is a thing...

Almost Human…

After a week of unpaid leave, I returned to my supply post to be told that I was no longer needed. Nobody had told me, neither the school nor the agency. I was suddenly, and without warning, given the freedom of the city. Fortunately, I got the chance to say goodbye to some pretty decent...

Ripped by a Hawk…

Back to the goshawk. There was something beautiful about that bird of prey, even as it was ripping the still fluttering woodpigeon to pieces. Even that bit was edifying though I would prefer that nobody heard me say that. It wasn’t the gore of the scene that pulled me in but the purity of the...

Riding Through Time…

FOR ENGLAND AND MY MEMORIES, THAT WAS THE HOTTEST SUMMER THAT I CAN REMEMBER. IT REMAINS TALL AS STANDPIPES GUSHING FOUNTAINS OF MEMORIES INTO BUCKETS AND BOWLS. The whole of the street would meet every morning and evening to quench their needs. The clear stuff was rationed to an hour during each of these times,...

Dom or Demonic?

To get to the point. Simon was not having a good day. He rarely had good days. By that I mean that he had lots of good moments, times when things were going well and nothing jumped out at him. His decision to go to the coast was one of outcomes to having had a...

Passing Wind For Payment…

Roast Turkey with stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage  Lentil curry with boiled rice (v)  It was a tough decision as I loved roast potatoes; the turkey could get stuffed. In the end, I settled for my vegetarian option with lentil curry. As a now committed vegetarian, I asked for carrots and cabbage to be placed...

Date of Birth…

My bed was still within the ward, but the ward was now part of the forest. It was no surprise that this provider of pain-relief should now be transforming into a shaman whose powers had been cultivated on the moist carpet of the forest floor.  It was the decaying leaves that I was treading on...

Lovely, Dark and Deep…

I started conversations with the nurses when they passed my room. I wanted to ease their etched concern with a cheery word and a smile. I could see suspicion ripple beneath their nervous smiles. I smiled some more and they hurried off to perform some new and, seemingly urgent, exercise. For a long time, I...

Calm Before The Crash…

I was on the road again. The clear sky had been crowded out by the overhanging branches and early spring growth of leaves. The adjective is dappled. Dappled belongs to horses, soft pony colours that can be found in painting-by-numbers kits, number 7 brown, number 8 white, number 9 both brown and white mixed. At...