18 May 2020

Bromo, book six – an extract

, , , ,

‘Morning, can I help you?’ The receptionist smiled her greeting. ‘I hope so. At least you look as if you want to.’ A clumsy compliment, Bromo chided himself. But well meant. ‘Makes a refreshing change to where I come from,’ he hurried to explain. ‘Tyllmouth must do strange things to people. So relaxed and slow-going.’… Continue Reading

18 May 2020

Bromo, book six – an extract

, , , ,

‘Morning, can I help you?’ The receptionist smiled her greeting. ‘I hope so. At least you look as if you want to.’ A clumsy compliment, Bromo chided himself. But well meant. ‘Makes a refreshing change to where I come from,’ he hurried to explain. ‘Tyllmouth must do strange things to people. So relaxed and slow-going.’… Continue Reading

17 May 2020

Some things academia will never learn

, , , ,

WHAT is it about proofreading and editing that academics find so hard to understand? Yet again a university student has requested my help in preparing their thesis for submission. And yet again, and much as I would welcome the work, I have had to say no. There are several reasons for refusal, but the main… Continue Reading

2 May 2020

Cure needed for pandemic’s verbal virus

, , , , , ,

The lexicographers are working overtime. New words are being coined, reviewed and added to dictionaries worldwide almost daily. It seems there’s nothing like disasters and pandemics to send the spin doctors into a frenzy of creativity as they try to find ways of cloaking and minimising what is actually happening. Plain speaking is avoided at… Continue Reading

29 April 2020

A taut, twisting and tantalising time with the Perfect Wife

, , ,

For once I can use the phrase “a true page turner” with utter conviction. And happily add the clumsier “unputdownable”. This novel fully merits both descriptions. And though I am not one of those speed readers who can zip through a book in a single session, I was close to achieving that feat on this… Continue Reading

24 April 2020

Isolation boredom or Russian Roulette?

,

These are indeed strange and unsettling times. Such that they have resurrected thoughts of Parkinson’s Law, which famously stated way back in 1955 that  “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Thanks to the demands of social distancing and self-isolation, vast numbers of the population are now finding themselves with… Continue Reading

21 April 2020

Interior design – good to look at, not to use

, , ,

EVERY day I am confronted by a very visible and irritating triple reminder of one of the more regrettable recent errors of my ways. A stark and unavoidable footnote to a rash and impetuous decision. One that was needlessly expensive but which I am condemned to live with unless I spend yet more money. They… Continue Reading

16 April 2020

When a virus spreads, the dictionary swells

, , , , ,

It was only a few days ago that I suggested  many of the words and phrases that have already become lingua franca during the recent global crisis were sure to be well in the running for selection as Word(s) of the Year. Place your bets … Since then we have heard (imagined)  cries of “stop… Continue Reading

15 April 2020

Self-isolation: it’s situation normal for loners and introverts

,

THERE is something to be said in favour of being an introverted loner at times like this. While all about us fret and fume about the enforced home confinement wrought on their lives by Covid-19, the true loners  simply plod on regardless. ‘What’s changed?’ we ask.  Situation normal.  All’s well on the home front. Far… Continue Reading

15 April 2020

A hot (and wet) book at bedtime

NEVER fall asleep in bed holding a book and a hot drink. The book gets wet and you get woken very suddenly, and painfully.   Lesson learned Continue Reading

15 April 2020

Hot drinks in bed: I’ll not drink to that

,

via Hot drinks in bed: I’ll not drink to that Continue Reading

End of content

End of content

Receive my ‘Read. Write. Run. Repeat.’ newsletter

Regular updates of my reviews and commentary direct to your inbox.