AS far back as I can discover, the patriarchal side of my Celtic family has always had close links to the sea. It has brought them employment, skills and opportunities. But also uncertainty, hardship and sudden death, in peace as well as in war. They include shipwrights, blacksmiths, mariners, tidewaiters, missionaries, lighthouse keepers, fishermen, Customs…
DOCTORS must be loving this new world order. The one where they filter enquiries to such an extent that they are rarely bothered with having to deal with patients face to face. Those nuisances (once known as patients) are kept firmly at arm’s length; or an aggravating (Dial 1 for …) phone call away. Barriers…
MOSTLY I tend to ignore the endless flood of social media challenges nominating me to participate in the latest “Ten of …” lists. My main reason is an abiding suspicion of all posts that come without an identifiable source. Their origins are hidden deep beyond the “friend” who is suggesting I spend ten days naming…
LITTLE wonder it is called a freedom machine. One that becomes more and more so as the years (and miles) roll by. I refer, of course, to that two-wheeled wonder, the bicycle. Thanks to the recent addition of electrical power, it is now a pleasure that even ancient limbs can continue to enjoy. It has…
AND now for something completely different with a truly gripping thriller from a source not previously sampled. After years of immersion in the tide of Scandi Noir, I am stepping out into fresh fields with a switch to German Noir. Well, completely different and fresh for this reader, although no doubt it has been flourishing…
OKAY, so we know you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. For verification, just ask any woman who has tried to persuade a man to stop wearing the same old grey and switch to something brighter, cheerier. Anything to make a change. Further supporting evidence comes by way of that other cliche that a…
EDUCATION standards are definitely slipping. Casual observation of the dosy dawdlers slowly refilling out streets indicates that this is so. So many citizens are showing an inability to read. To them, the inscribed shapes appearing all around them are nothing more than heiroglyphics. And those who have passed the brain-straining next step of transforming these…
Hi Mum, everything all right? No reply. Morning Dad, how’s tricks? Silence, not a word. And why should I expect one? It’s been such a long time since we last spoke. Something like thirty years or more in dad’s case, probably going on for even lo ger. More recently with mu, almost in this century….
IN these uncertain times (I write in the era of Covid-19) there is little better than delving into a book knowing that satisfaction is guaranteed. Plot, characters and dialogue will meld into a teasingly enjoyable story of good fighting evil with at least some measure of justice being served. The good guys will at times…
BRITISH readers’ love affair with all things dark, murderous and mysterious shows no signs of waning. Crime continues to come first choice among public library users, with children’s books a valiant second and daylight to all other genres. Thrillers, mysteries and crime fiction take eight out of the ten top places in the British Library’s…