June 18 2018 (Berlin) Three schoolgirls, skirted & shirted, each with a small rucksack across their white cottoned back, play a neat dance game in the carriage on the 7 u-bahn. They spin & clap the upturned soles of their smart shoes together, spin & slap palms. A pleated chorus of words & laughter accompanies … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 22
May 9th 2016 (South Shields) Arriving back from the city on a late night Metro I decide to treat Jayne L and myself to a nice drop of wine. I pop into Safeways, where, at the end of the quiet aisle I am accosted by a member of staff as I carry a bottle of … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 21
April 12 2016 (North Shields) The tide is low and it is a bright morning. Photograph the seals and some rocks and come home. Play guitar all morning. I wonder if I have reached a plateau with my playing. 6pm. Pack and walk to The Quarry. Set up on the little makeshift stage. A McC, … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 20
March 28 2015 (Croydon) I cut Ewa's hair and then the three of us, Ewa, Tony B and me, eat Polish white sausage with garnishes of all kinds. We eat them with crusty white bread and fried onions. We drink Polish lager. And after, I accept one Polish cigarette with such ease that no one … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 19
NB and I have traded letters and postcards since 2005. I always look forward to his correspondence and keep them, unopened, on the mantelpiece until I need a little pick-me-up. Last week I began a difficult reply to his latest, but this morning I finished it and folded the 5 sheets and the ephemera, found … Continue reading Palm Sunday correspondence (excerpt)
'In a shed out the back of seventy one she hammered bird shapes from metal for business and fun. Sparked feathers became an impossible swan; trumpeter black from raincloud of iron.' I recalled these lines from an earlier scene... and thought, I'd play him now almost the same. The same, but slightly differently - in … Continue reading an impossible swan.
