I’ve been remembering one of the greatest moments of my life with my son when he was aged 8. SCENE: A Paediatric Psychologist’s consulting room. Various toys and bricks are placed strategically around the doctor’s desk. AFTER A PREAMBLE CHAT WITH THE BOY AND EXPLORATION OF TOYS … Boy: “I see this wind-up Bob the …
I once made little worlds with moss The soft green cushions Were the lush green grass Of the hills The little trees standing so tall and proud (They do not know they are not tall at all) Pushed the moss cushions into a biscuit tin lid Arranged some pretty stones (Well not pretty – just …
When did magic die for you? I always believed in magic. I mean, really believed in it. Aged 9 I thought if I wished hard enough my cat would talk to me. That he was only hiding his secret self behind his impassive cat face because he could not trust a human. Could never trust a human, not even …
I used to think that the clouds went to bed at night When I saw them softly wandering towards the horizon at sunset I imagined they gathered together In a heap On the horizon Resting Bedded down Until morning came When it was time to stretch and pull away For another day wandering the open …
My cheese sandwich is not like the others. We all want to make a connection. We see a news story, read something on social media, or talk to a friend. We might think, “I know exactly what you mean!” But where we might see stunning similarities, others may only perceive glaring differences. My Cheese Sandwich …
There was a zombie woman on my early morning train. Her face was a skeleton. Smooth tea-coloured skin stretched over dry bones. Milky blank eyes of faint cataract blue. Colourless dry wisps of hair stuck to the dome of her skull. Her maw was opened. Dark. Like a tunnel. The dry lips strained. Mouthing. She stared forward. Focusing …
Whales. Poor whales. Poor dead sperm whales, to be specific. Six of them have beached themselves on the east shores of the UK over the last few weeks. I don’t have any theories as to why they washed up. They were still alive (well, at first) so it wasn’t something as basic as their mighty …
I just re-read a book by accident. It was Stephen King’s Misery. I don’t read horror books any more (I still watch horror films though). So, I was just looking through one of the many boxes of books I still haven’t unpacked since moving house, when Misery kind of fell into my hand. Then it sort of opened. Then my eyes started reading …
Sir Nicholas Winton died this week. If you want to know who he was and what he did, read a bit about him at The Power of Good. He rescued around 669 children from the Nazi death camps. It was only when his attic was being cleared that the story of what he had done became …
See this article? Android Dreams Images created by computer algorithms. Eerily beautiful. Haunting landscapes. Arty, aren’t they? You can watch a short neural network in action (or close enough) at Google’s blog, and see how a computer brain happily turns clouds into magical sky cities. “… I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. …
the crone 