Posts from — May 2010

She breezed in at the beginning of one Autumn Term. We had spent the summer lazing in our back gardens, trying to find some respite from the harsh sun that scorched Lincolnshire’s open plains. The county had a big sky with very little to fill it apart from the Cathedral and that didn’t throw enough shade.

In the summer months the Bishop himself could be found  hugging the walls of this edifice, slowly edging along with  the shadows as the sun moved around. Periodically he would escape to refill his chalice from the font. His vestments were a serious impediment to health during these times. Hot and airless. The mitre clung to his damp forehead and the sweat ran into his eyes stinging and making him blink.

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The Canton cockerel stopped crowing some time ago. A shame really because I enjoyed hearing the sound. Perhaps someone who lived closer to it got a bit fed up though. Or maybe the urban foxes found it. But yesterday was a great day. Yesterday was the day the blackbirds came back into my life. They’ve been largely missing since I moved away from Balham. I used to be able to open the windows at the back of the flat and listen to the evening conversations of the blackbirds across the myriad Balham back gardens. Beautiful. And now they’ve found my garden in Canton. Let’s hope they don’t get chased away by the territorial magpie or either of the two cats who periodically fight over the privilege of sitting on my decking.

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click here for Part 2

I’ve been potting some chilli plants. Got the seeds a few weeks ago in Focus Do It All and sowed them in a tray in the conservatory. As if by magic the seedlings started to come through and got to a point where I deemed it appropriate to move them into pots. In all I have 20 or so, some of which I have moved outside and one that I took In to the office. When I am not in my room I jack the aircon temperature up as high as it will go. He he he. Looking forward to plenty of burn later in the year when I get harvesting.

I’m not really a gardener. I live just down the road from Tesco. However it is sometimes nice to do gardening type stuff. Usually it is a rush of blood that gets things into the ground but after that the weeds take control. Pesky things :). I did plant a lot of peas one year and managed to get a couple of portions out of it all. Shame really because [Read more →]

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He turned for one last look at the children and walked away. They carried on playing with their friends, laughing and screaming as kids do, taking no notice of the fact that he was going. Turning a corner he was out of sight and soon he could no longer hear them. He shoved his hands in his pockets and quickened his pace.

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It is five-thirty a.m. and the sun’s not yet risen. It’s uncomfortably warm and the air I breathe, so still, so heavy and damp I’d like to wring it dry, smells of the surrounding jungle. My shirt and shorts stick to me like khaki cling-film. And it will be even warmer when the sun’s up. To my left, pale green at the horizon, the eastern sky prepares for its arrival.

Through the dispersal hut window I look out onto concrete where, fifty yards away, a Handley Page Victor SR2 is being prepared for take-off. Her crew-chief, [Read more →]

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Walking back from doing my civic duty this morning I passed a chap struggling, one-handed, to manipulate a large wheelie bin along the pavement. In his other hand was a mobile phone, clamped to his ear.

Chap: “Oh aye, you’re off for a week now aren’t you ?”

Mobile phone: “I’M OFF FOR A WEEEEEEEEEK !!!!!!”

It made me smile

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                         Stormy, obdurate emotions,

                         hypochondriacal notions,

                         pustules, piles,

                         prescriptions, potions,

                         pills and epidermal lotions,

                         [Read more →]

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05.30 am
on the road
little traffic
brain not in gear

mist lies low
on the ground,
primordial swamp

caffeine be good
but I need miles
before the world wakes
and sees me gone

autopilot.

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TJN2N93L

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what makes you think you matter or make a difference? your footfall makes no imprint. no noise above the sound of deafening mediocrity. no matter how big your shoes you are irrelevant. forget it, as you are already forgotten.

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1. hold spectacles horizontally at arm’s length, front of lenses pointing upwards
2. remember where the door is (this bit is to a large extent dependent on your prescription strength)
3. open door and quickly thrust arm out as far as you can reach – note no upward sweeping movements of arm
4. have independent timekeeper count to five seconds – recommend the one thousand and one, one thousand and two etc method
5. outstretched arm must be free of all interference – ensure no collateral precipitation occurs from guttering, pub sign above door etc. artificial drips play havoc with the measurements and lessen the accuracy of  results.  if [Read more →]

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