Earlier today I forgot the word ‘Insomnia’. I also forgot the word ‘Dementia’, because this is what chronic insomnia does to you. It takes away…
Janssen Stand Down!
In which we learn about sport and democracy We touched down on the surface of the planet we’d named, ‘Zangerlünd’ with no problems and, as…
Chess, Loss and Recovery
In the past few weeks I’ve taken up chess again, and I’ve been playing a lot of games very badly. The last time I did…
The Water Meadow Man is in the Shops!
A novel where several amazing women are cool and horrible, get drunk, throw their weight around, and live lives (while men try and recover from…
Writing a novel was a dispiriting achievement but…
Writing my novel, The Water Meadow Man (free chapters here for what they’re worth), took years and turned out to be an incredibly dispiriting experience….
The modern gods of pain
Though not as packed with anxious parents and carers, medical staff and cleaners as it would be in a few hours, the hospital was still populated by that mix of worried and joyful adults that is peculiar to children’s wards and hospitals. The atmosphere was hopeful. I’ve found the same to be true on neuro wards but that’s a story for another time.
A heavenly dish in a hellish decade
English person I knew… in the world. We also called avocados, ‘avocado pears’, the Labour Party was ‘electable’, The Children’s Film Foundation was ‘The British Film Industry’ and Punk Rock was ‘genuinely shocking and subversive and not mostly full of small ‘c’ conservatives who would later live in abject terror of any change whatsoever’.
Speaking as a statue
I’ve been a statue for a hundred years or so now. Prior to that I was a loose mixture of metals, a gang if you…
Quick and Easy Kimchi
OK, so this is for Covid-times but it stands up for all times: go with what you’ve got or what you can get for flavour. I’m not giving amounts because this will depend on the amount of veg you’re using.