Relax (don’t do it?)
I suppose the religious analogy is with the ‘last days’ where everything is in a state of chaos and confusion and expectation of the second coming. For us, right now, there are some definite parallels. The chaos and confusion is there, certainly. There are even a couple of candidates for the AntiChrist figure. But the […]
Pointing the way
A month in and it still feels like a new year. Partly because of politics, although that also feels like the same old stuff. Partly because of pure busyness. Every January is the same. A few days of idleness followed by everything kicking off at once. So this feels like a good time to look […]
The thrill of making progress
Exciting times. The cover for my novel has now been agreed – as shown above – and it’s starting to feel real. I’ve booked the rooms for launch events, applied for temporary licenses so people can enjoy a glass of wine while I waffle on, and made a number of other small steps towards the […]
Kindergarten and beyond
There was a girl at my primary school who would stick her fingers in her ears and talk nonsense when anyone tried to disagree with her. There was a boy who would storm out of the room if there was someone there who’d upset him. Reading this morning’s news it seems the girl is now […]
Pied pipers
I had the pleasure of attending a show by years 3 and 4 of my granddaughter’s school today. The show was the Pied Piper, the production was fun, the children thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the audience. Not a tough audience but they deserved the applause. From the lad who always got left behind […]
Ankles, teeth and the nuclear threat
Image courtesy of Les Haines, Creative Commons Priorities I’ve been musing on the question of priorities. Just think of what we’re faced with. The newspapers are full of North Korea and the public posturing by TweedleTrump and TweedleKim. Bluster and bragging seem to have replaced reason and diplomacy. Threats serve to escalate the crisis and […]
Choices
Image courtesy of Dave Morrison Photography and Flickr: Creative Commons What to write… Speaking with others who blog it seems our main concern is the fear of running out of material. Not an issue this week, clearly. The post election political situation remains fascinating, the issues with President Trump continue to develop, and we have a […]
Etiquette, Politics, and Facebook
Image courtesy of Kevin Ott and Flickr; Creative commons. Permitted subjects over dinner It used to be said that polite dinner guests did not discuss sex, religion or politics. That might make the dinner party boring but at least you finish the evening with everyone on speaking terms. No such restrictions seem to be applied […]
With rifles if necessary
image courtesy of Stu Rapley and flickr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ Threats and resistance This could sound melodramatic but rifles and violent resistance are threatened on a regular basis in the US debate. Actually, debate is the wrong word. Trump’s supporters seem incapable of debating, preferring instead to accuse the ‘Washington elite’ of stealing from them, and threatening […]
The USA and the special relationship
New York I’ve spent a lot of time in the States. New York, Chicago and Stamford, Connecticut were all regular stop overs for a number of years and I spent a great three weeks ‘off Broadway’ with one of my plays. I’ve friends, ex colleagues, family in the States. A personal special relationship. And this […]