“Blimey Sue where on earth are you leading us?” My flatmate Angela and I were well off the beaten track, as always. You didn’t truly get to know a place until you left the tourist tat behind. We’d chosen Tallinn for a weekend away, not because it was a bucket list item, but because a budget airline had put it on the map. I did, however, have a small…
3rd June 2003 It’s gone. I’ve had to start a new one. Where is it? Jesus Christ, what am I gonna do? Turned everything upside down, emptied out my cupboards, cleared everything out and it’s gone. Where’s it gone? Where can it have gone, it never, ever, ever leaves this room. * 5th June Mum won’t look me in the eye. Am I imagining it? She talks to the…
Artefact 127-A-6-HP from the very brief human period. Background: Transcripts of a salvaged audio log, found with the orbital craft ‘New Eden’ which had crashed 2.1 million years ago. It was discovered by the Olandy people at the bottom of the Creasis Sea (what would have been the Sahara desert region of Northern Africa). It’s thought, from analysis of the engine drive, that the craft had been sabotaged. Entries…
I don’t know what it is about her. It’s like there’s a corner of my mind in which she’s taken up permanent residence. Every song I hear reminds me of her; everything I read reminds me of her; even cleaning my teeth reminds me of her. I pick up my phone and text her, just so I can get a reply. I so want this weekend to work, but…
There are half a dozen of us sitting in the lounge watching the morning news, the volume turned up because of Roy’s endless babble about the toilets not being clean, when a piece begins about how seventies fashions are returning to the high street. Good God, I hope not! And there it is, in my head, unbidden, as if it was yesterday. I see us in our flat in…
I returned to the kitchen blowing into cupped hands. “We had a delivery?” “First thing this morning.” Martin didn’t look up. “But I thought we had enough meat?” “We do.” The cleaver came down on the fresh steak with a purposeful thud. “It was spur of the moment; compulsive you might even say.” Studying the sheet of paper pinned to the corkboard — “And you’ve changed the menu?” “Had…
What if I could tell you which horse will win The Derby next week. Would you want to know? Of course you would. You’d assume I was talking nonsense, but when Bedazzled comes in at 35-1 you’d be back, wanting to know more. Maybe you’d plan to come with others, abscond me as your own private prophet. But then, of course, you’d be missing the point. However, what if…
She leans back on the bench, trembling, her eyes closed, her fingers playing with the small silver cross around her neck. She can hear the innocent, carefree laughter of children on the swings, but feels apart, contaminated, filthy. She opens her eyes; a toddler is watching her. He grins. She cannot bring herself to grin back and quickly stands. And takes the first steps towards home. As she leaves…
‘It was cold and damp, and I could hear something breathing in the dense darkness’. The first line of Andrei Vasala’s stunning new novel about Polish immigrants to the UK. A dramatic and heart warming story of a brave journey across war-torn Europe. The novel…‘ He put The Times down on his desk and leant back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. It was 50 years ago…
* Warning: This story contains a single incidence of swearing *. I stood in the wings of the large auditorium, about three times the size of my lecture hall in Newcastle, listening to Dr. Mathews finish his talk. My eyes ranged across the audience, all entranced by his presentation. I’ve listened to Angus many times over the years and he’s a proper pro.; experienced, interesting, amusing; everything I’m not….
