The knock at the door came just as Alec put the toast to his mouth. It was tentative at first and for a moment he thought it likely a kid had played a prank, but it was followed by a succession of hammer blows so thunderous he thought someone was trying to break in. Ronnie, … Continue reading Early Shift
Last Man Standing
March 2016 A cold wind is blowing. Spring is around the corner, but winter is having a final hurrah. The boat is supported high on its cradle and twenty feet up, standing on the deck, I can see the inner basin of the harbour, marina pontoons bobbing around and, beyond that, the churning Firth of … Continue reading Last Man Standing
Call It Out
Calling It Out Who is up for another referendum? I’m guessing that the vast majority of those who read this will most certainly relish another campaign. The confidence, inclusivity and optimism that were the hallmarks of the 2014 Independence Referendum provided a positive and lasting legacy. Despite the deep disappointment of the result, the referendum … Continue reading Call It Out
Snowflakes & Bayonets
Sometimes I receive unbidden, a childhood memory so clear and real that I believe myself to be my nine year old self, living in a three storey maisonette on a hillside overlooking a wide expanse of sea to a mountainous island. It is night time. The sky is the colour of paper-ash. Snow, falling in … Continue reading Snowflakes & Bayonets
A Legacy of War
I am a child of the sixties, reared on an incongruous mix of hippy ideals and World War II action movies. It was a period submerged in technicolour and viewed in Panavision. A childhood filled with the glory of war, a celebration of the the courageous, of rugged handsome men, calm under pressure, hoodwinking the … Continue reading A Legacy of War
No Surrender
It was impossible to talk. The massed ranks of flutes and drums rendered conversation obsolete. They were marching through the city centre now and the canyon of multi storey office buildings echoed with the booming cannon shots of bass drums and the singing of drunk men. The air shrilled with Protestant righteousness and the bleating … Continue reading No Surrender
Flags
Flags. They’re so 14th Century. I mean, they’re not really relevant in this one, surely? We can give ourselves a pat on the back and stick our well fed noses in the air. We’ve moved on from all that dull tribalism. Who rallies round a flag these days? I don’t anticipate another Bannockburn any time … Continue reading Flags
Cherry Tree
It is Autumn. I am in her garden, raking heels through the leaves beneath the cherry tree. I am in dumb retreat as she tells me things I do not want to hear. A symposium of platitudes. She tells me that her love, once as wild as liquorice and peaches, has become altogether more platonic. … Continue reading Cherry Tree
First Day
The radio had ceased to function. There had been the occasional burst of song, the scattered chat of someone being up-beat for a living, but now there was only the crisp-hiss of static and the grumbling roar of tyres along the motorway. He twisted the dial in search of the elusive sweet spot, but the … Continue reading First Day
Doubts and Procrastination
So I’m home. Back to the old routine. The girls are off to school, the eldest having stomped off in tears because a school concert to be given in honour of the departing head mistress (newly announced) falls on the date of a planned trip to New York. First world problems... That old enemy, procrastination, … Continue reading Doubts and Procrastination
