Hot drinks in bed: I’ll not drink to that
via Hot drinks in bed: I’ll not drink to that
The Perfect Wife weaves a near perfect tale
As one who is forever wary of book cover blurbs, I approached this much-praised offering with even more caution than usual. Look at those blasts from high-status reviewers: Mind-bending, Unputdownable, Masterful. Surely hyperbole gone mad. There are six more pages of them inside, all of them in the same OTT vein. An enormous pinch of…
The fearsome fantasy of a garden
Having so far remained free of the horrendous effects of Covid-19, I will however admit to suffering what might be considered a supplementary impact. Not the sweaty feverish three days with a headache and sore dry throat and the accompanying anxieties; they lingered a bit too long for comfort but thankfully eventually moved on. Immune…
It may be just a small point to you …
WHAT is it about apostrophes that is so difficult to understand? Yes, I am well aware it’s a question that has been asked hundreds of times before. But we remain none the wiser – certainly not those who scatter them hither and thither like seeds on the wind. Nor those who teach them, either, it…
Sweating on finding a Covid repellent
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, sang Joni Mitchell. And right now I am hoping that will be the case. Hoping that when Covid-19 testing eventually filters down to the masses, my current concerns will prove justified. That I was not giving in to hypochondria. That tests provide late confirmation of what…
Strewth, it’s Strine
You’ve gotta love what the Aussies can do to the English language. No time was wasted Down Under in adapting linguistically to the present crisis. A sample of the latest OzSpeak: “Me boss tested posi for the ’Rona so now I’m in iso. Popped down to Woollies for some sanny, but it’s been bloody magpie’d.”
The man, the virus and the nightmare
THE elderly man flicked through the pages of the newspaper. Back and forth. Flick, flick. Stopping occasionally to re-read an item, perhaps check a headline, looking for meaning, for answers. Finding none, only confusion. What first appeared as imperatives could also be seen merely as advice, open to interpretation. An either/or situation. Toss a coin….
In the long run, even the long run has to stop – finally
“The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” has hitherto been a joy, a positive. It has now become a negative.
False names, false steps
Another extract from Bromo Book #6 – a work in progress: THE Richard Watkins he had just claimed to be had long vacated the address Bromo had given to the cops. Departed this life completely, unmourned and unmissed, as an untidy package Bromo had left in a two-star Shanghai hotel room for the embassy’s removalists…
Deceptive calm with coffee and cake
An update. After a bad case of writer’s block we find our sleuth taking an uneasy interlude over coffee and cake. A brief extract from book #6, as yet untitled, in the ongoing series of crime fiction featuring Bromo Perkins. FINDING the way to Grains, Beans and Leaves needed no help from satnav or Google. A sign…