Monthly Archives: January 2013
Keeping the peace
Enjoying retirement? Yes, I am sir. Oft looking back to when I was young, sir. You know, life’s a kind of continuum, both ends stretching ad infinitum. I think that’s great! I do indeed, sir, sit down and talk with me some more, sir. Well, I’ve played many parts in my time, and how about […]
The face at the window
One of the scenes that I retain of my time in the village where I lived as a boy holds a mystery. It’s not a deep mystery but it’s one which an inquisitive mind such as mine finds rising to the surface from time to time, to ponder on, tease at and enjoy with a […]
A group of low-life associates
They were bustled to the door, one of their helpers murmuring, ‘A couple of light-ales between the four of you; you’d get drunk on the smell of a bar-maid’s apron. Out with you!’ It was still only mid-afternoon as the four young men staggered across the street pushing people aside, hurling obscenities at any who […]
We thought we had troubles…
We moved into the school house in early December with my high school teaching job. It was basic low-rent accommodation and came with problems. Only one top element on the electric stove worked. A week later we found one room of the house was damp and smelled. Investigating, we found an outside drain in the […]
Only a look and a voice
This is based on something I witnessed during one of my stays in hospital. Outwardly, there was nothing appealing about Reginald Barton, as far as the general public was concerned, being one of those unfortunate men whose build and facial features combined to present him as a belligerent person, when he wasn’t. His clothes didn’t […]
Distant flavours
Michael, the quiet and reserved sixth-former at college was tolerated by the boys, being a worthy goal-keeper in their soccer team. Girls saw him differently, rating him tops in good looks and charm and dreaming of him as most likely to succeed as donor father to their as yet only dreamed of children. Despite their […]
Soliloquy
Being who and what I am… A parade of people in command of me, unknown doctor and midwife who supervised my entry, my parents who looked after and cared for me, playmates and friends, and a few who bullied me. * A few knew me as a cheerful choirboy hitting top notes with sheer joy, […]
My out of body experience under the influence of drugs
What: Right hip pops out of socket Why: A slight wriggle of the hips whilst well-reclined in comfortable chair, and galloping old age Then what: Paramedic kindly eases pain with a drug Result: My spacey drug misadventure back to normal Seated in my Ezy-boy chair one day, I eased my body into a more comfortable […]
A spontaneous expression of exuberance
Sometimes as teenagers we would each, in our own way, talk in an exaggerated fashion about all manner of things, quite loudly so that those around would hear. At first, what we said was for ourselves and personal but those around would give us friendly glances and smile. Thus encouraged, we carried on so that […]
Country life
This is a true story and a nice memory to look back on. We had some friends who had a farm a little way out of the village where we lived from 1936 to 1940, and I reckoned the mother of that family lived such a charmed life. Apart from recalling the gusty, down-to-earth homeliness […]
The writings of a Lancashire lad 