Seat belts were fastened and we were ready to go when the captain announced our departure would be delayed. She explained that a group of Japanese tourists were held up in immigration, but that their luggage had already been loaded into the hold. She assured us the delay would only be a matter of a few minutes. I turned to my neighbour who was gazing at his wrist watch, an ostentatiously expensive Breitling, as if doing so might speed things […]
Read more of "The Delay"In my paper yesterday there was piece about three British women who have rowed 2,800 nautical miles from California to Hawaii. It took 38 days, 1 hour and 34 minutes, thus knocking 25 hours off a previous record set by men. The journey was perilous. Waves hit their boat at 90 degrees to their direction of travel, and they capsized three times. They suffered from sleep deprivation and blistered hands. At the end of the piece it says, ‘The women […]
Read more of "Update from a street seller"The other day a poet friend of mine wrote a poem about me. I didn’t even know he wrote poetry so it was totally unexpected, but there it was on page 27 of his new collection. His carer had put the slim booklet of verses in the post to me with a note. I’ve described him as a friend but that’s misleading. More accurately, he is an acquaintance, a colleague I once worked with on a project to do with […]
Read more of "The Poet"Before sitting down, they read the two plaques on the bench; one saying it was made from recycled plastic and the other that Dorothy had always loved sitting here admiring the view. ‘I wonder who Dorothy was,’ said Alan, as he sank onto the bench, grateful to have somewhere to rest his aching legs. ‘Someone with an odd taste in views,’ answered Brian, wriggling his shoulders to encourage his rucksack to slide down his arms. He lowered it to the […]
Read more of "The breather"Once the old man had got over the shock of his cancer diagnosis, he made a decision: he’d sell the two paperbacks he’d recently written to raise money for Cancer Research UK. During his career he’d made many decisions and, having made them, was accustomed to taking the steps necessary to bring them to fruition. Inevitably, some ideas had proved easy to implement and others had been troublesome but, generally speaking, he was accomplished at overcoming obstacles and steering things […]
Read more of "Obstacles"I went to school a long time ago (correction: a very long time ago) and I have just found a document dated December 1955. It is headed plaintively, ‘Please read this’ and it is from the Principal (headmaster in ordinary language) to parents. My secondary school was a minor public school (in other words private), boys only, where trouser pockets had to be sewn up, no footballs were allowed (rugby balls yes, footballs no), prefects were called praepositors, there was […]
Read more of "The good old days?"I thought the nature-nurture controversy was over with, happily, nurture coming out on top. However, I read an interesting piece recently about coaching football players. It reported that, at a recent meeting of the Premier League Academy, there was a discussion about how to create players who were equally skilled with both feet. One of the academy coaches apparently said, ‘Some kids are naturally two-footed and some are not. Coaching has nothing to do with it’. Of course, I wasn’t […]
Read more of "Nature or Nurture?"Robin had requested the meeting and, having done so, realised there was no going back. The Canon’s study was far from welcoming, a large room with a high ceiling and an ornate plaster cornice. Despite its size, it was overwhelmed with furniture; a sofa, three generous armchairs, an oak rolltop desk and a scattering of side-tables. The walls were lined with shelves with books stacked in higgledy-piggledy arrangements. They looked dusty, uninviting, and Robin wondered how many of them had […]
Read more of "The fait accompli"Why might you read this? Because you want to write short stories and would like some advice? A bit unlikely given that most people don’t write short stories, or even long ones come to that. Or maybe you’re just curious, amazed that anyone would write short stories. Or perhaps you read everything I write, hoping that one day you’ll find something interesting/useful. Ah well, here goes. Step 1 Starting (If you don’t start, you don’t start) I usually start by […]
Read more of "How I write short stories"Dear Peter I sometimes wonder what it would be like to meet up with you for a chat. A bit awkward I guess, with both of us feeling our way. Anyway, since we can’t meet (if we could, would we recognise each other?) I thought I’d write you a note – brief because I seem to remember you had a short attention span. By the way, if you ever get around to reading my life story, One thing just led […]
Read more of "A letter from me (age 86) to me (age 18)"Last night I was at Wigmore Hall listening to a concert given by Iestyn Davies (countertenor) and Thomas Dunford (lute) and, not for the first time, I reflected on my musical likes and dislikes. My wife and I often go to Wigmore — certainly once a week, sometimes twice — so I have plenty of time to mull things over. Particularly so this week when, in addition to last night’s concert, I will have listened to music performed at […]
Read articleSeat belts were fastened and we were ready to go when the captain announced our departure would be delayed. She explained that a group of Japanese tourists were held up in immigration, but that their luggage had already been loaded into the hold. She assured us the delay would only be a matter of a few minutes. I turned to my neighbour who was gazing at his wrist watch, an ostentatiously expensive Breitling, as if doing so might speed things […]
Read blog“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behaviour”