I have decided to keep a list of things that I see that I like and things I see that I don’t like. It’s a simple idea. Like The girl that walks home in front of me is in her early twenties. She has very thin ankles and a...
Who else would bring out a pint of ale in a recession for just 99 pence than that wonderfully pessimistic bastion of Britishness, J D Wetherspoons?! There is no music, there are no thrills, but boy, a 99 pence pint in your...
I am in Debenhams kicking around the various clothes gathered in crumpled piles beneath the sale rails. People are feverishly glancing over the sizes of the garments then at the prices, and if either fails to satisfy then they...
When I flippantly mentioned in my last post that I had, but for some fractured recollections of fireworks and greasy chips, experienced memory loss from 11: 30 pm onwards on the 31st of December, I was conveniently forgetting...
It’s 2009. I’m listening to Motown, looking out on a snowy Bristol scene with the dull ache of alcoholism and gluttony inside. A two week sojourner from work is all but over, gone in a festive flash of over-indulgence and...
A section of my travel journal was published in the Observer on Sunday as part of the Escape review of 2008. Here it is: Seeing the Invisible – Learning to Surf in Queensland The long-haired man who runs the surf school is...
The crow hopped down the roof. Lucas took aim and fired. He missed and the crow took clumsily to the air. Its shadow traversed the roof before it too disappeared. It was Christmas day and the horizon was sharp with cold. Since...
The rain is cold and the sky a deep brooding purple. I shuffle into a book shop, more to take shelter than to browse. An old man sits at a computer. I can see the blue screen reflected in his spectacles. I get the impression that...
Crissy M – Darren Hayman I’m not working. Christmas is coming. It’s cold. Here’s Darren Hayman singing a song about the porn star Crissy M to warm your cockles. Darren was frontman with my favourite band...
The bank’s regional manager comes into the branch where I work once a week to monitor our performance and motivate us to meet unrealistic sales figures. He is a typical manager-type, speaking in acronyms and empty marketing...