Category Archives: Uncategorized

FIRE STARTER Theo thinks he’s Christ.  At my first attempt to eat breakfast in the retreat’s communal dining room, he’s shouting: ‘I can save some of you but I won’t be able to save all of you!’ ‘That’s fine, Theo, … Continue reading →

In a photo I’m leaning with Mum against a railing in Richmond Park. I’m seven and Mum is laughing, holding a cigarette in one hand, reaching out for me with her other. It’s late autumn, and golden leaves are turning … Continue reading →

MONTY MODLYN Monty Modlyn hosted a late-night phone-in on LBC in the 1970s. He was warm, cockney-cheeky and consistently upbeat with callers who rang in. ‘Monty, I put all the washing in like it said to, and it came out … Continue reading →

Crows massing on the rooftops of the estate, hunched-shouldered funeral ghouls in their damp satin cloaks, their talons like blind men’s sticks tapping on the slates above us, they natter and shift in the gloom before their sunrise takeoff over … Continue reading →

HAND ME MY HAND ‘You can pin a maggot on a mackerel but you can’t pin a mackerel on a maggot,’ whispered the featureless child, his unheard words of wisdom floating away on the wind. There was lot of wind … Continue reading →

In the kind of wild campsite they liked to frequent, toilets were at a premium and not to everyone’s taste. Think basic. Think no flush. Think sawdust and constipation. Drinking helped relax things but also added to the need to … Continue reading →

Would you look at the house? Even from the agent pictures, it reeks damp and grubbiness: the green felt pool of carpet, the dirt tan of nicotine on the walls, the lopsided mock chandelier in the lounge. Here is a … Continue reading →

VOICE OFF He is his own shadow man, embarrassed to stand on the ground and make an imprint. When he walks for the last time into the television studio his body is a reluctant guest, shirking from its duty to … Continue reading →

THE SPOT Richard and Sue have a friend called Roger. He was originally her friend from university and was best man at their wedding. Twenty years later Roger has got himself in an undisclosed sticky situation and has asked to … Continue reading →

When the first bomb went off we thought it was masonry falling from a building site. The second blast smashed windows in our lab and a few of my colleagues were cut by flying glass. I checked they were okay, … Continue reading →