After some time, a bearded, balding, overalled, paint spattered, coot man - stepladder and duffel bag in hand - came into the low level buzz of the waiting room. He clumsied himself and his chattel through the door, allowing a brief rush of oily, night cold air to enter, too. The gust, flustering the newspaper … Continue reading The Waiting Room.
Judith Butters was on her way to scatter her father's ashes over Bristol. It was her belief that he would be happy with this decision. Knott. "I imagine it's pretty quiet up there." "I've never been." "Me neither. But this is what I imagine." The road to Benchcombe was browed first with boxy hedges, then … Continue reading A Million Motes.
July 9 2015 (Croydon) It is warm. Queen's Garden is busy with other lunch timers. Wander around with a sandwich, a book and a small water looking for somewhere comfortable to sit. Settle on the grass bank near the subway, in the shade shaped like railings. Eat sandwich, but my heart isn't in it. Ditto … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island 23
The chilled yellow interior of the fridge in the one bulb backroom of the frozen pet food shop made him wince. Nick sniffed the milk. He sluiced the tea ringed mugs under the cold tap, wiping the rims with a thumbed and fingered tea towel. The Chelsea one with its chipped lip and sepia rings. … Continue reading Fleet Circles.
The summer he left school, Nick worked Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at his uncle’s pet food shop in Middleton, the main thrust of which was chopping and bagging frozen blocks of tripe. Of an evening he walked the woods behind his parents' house for an hour with a German Shepherd who answered to the name of … Continue reading The Orwell Fiction.
January 21st 2007 (M25) The M25 is, as I have suspected for some time, more than just a motorway that encircles London and the surrounding suburbs: it is a dark magic that ensnares. It cannot be coincidence that once beyond its grasp the air becomes breathable; the sky, bigger; the scenery, vibrant - so vivid, … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 12
