A few years ago I was invited to speak at a conference that was being held in the Isle of Man. To be honest, I accepted the invitation because an all-expenses-paid visit to the Isle of Man was irresistible. I spent my teens on the Island and loved the place. I still take each of my grandchildren back on a ‘rite of passage’ week of adventures when they become nine years old. So, it’s true to say that the location, […]
Read more of "A weird experience"For some reason memories of various faux pas linger even though they (mostly) happened a long time ago. I’m sure I haven’t had more than my fair share of embarrassing situations but something must explain why, years later, I can recall them so vividly. Many of my faux pas are to do with mispronunciations. This dates from my schooldays at a minor public school back in the 50’s. I had just fulfilled an ambition and become a school prefect (we […]
Read more of "Embarrassing faux pas"When I read complaints about the police stopping and searching certain sorts of people, I feel slightly deprived (only slightly – it isn’t a big hang-up). I have only ever been stopped once. The first was ages ago when I had an Austin 7. This car, made in 1936, had many idiosyncrasies including cable brakes that caused the car to go sideways whenever you braked. An emergency stop was remarkably effective, not because of the braking distance, but because the […]
Read more of "Stop and search"The action takes place in April 2012 in a room at the Borrowdale Hotel, in the Lake District. A small group gather expectantly round Jenny and Mike, two professional artists. Rain beats down hard outside. MIKE: This morning we are going to experiment. Jenny and I are going to put marks down together just to see what happens. It doesn’t matter if we finish up with a mess – it’s only a bit of paper after all. We should probably […]
Read more of "The demo, a short play in one act"Some years ago (everything happened to me a long time ago!) I was invited to speak at a big conference in Harare. The organisers explained that, due to currency restrictions, I would have to fly out Air Zimbabwe and my fee would have to be paid in Zimbabwean dollars which I would not be allowed to take out of the country. At first this didn’t sound like an attractive proposition but the organisers went on to explain that the usual […]
Read more of "Zimbabwean Loot"“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behaviour”
