WITHOUT fanfare my local M&S has today reopened its ground floor clothing, cosmetics and sundry items section. No shouty newspaper or TV campaigns. Almost a whisper; a soft opening as similar cautious events are described. Yet hardly had the doors slid open to provide access to its Food Hall than the other racks of non-essentials…
AS the world rushes hither and thither to conquer one virus, another, almost as pervasive and pernicious within its own realm, is rapidly spreading unchecked. The virus of click-bait journalism is devaluing words, dragging them down to bargain basement level and beyond. Words are losing their value quicker than sterling’s decline in the global currency…
‘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.’…
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…
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…
via Hot drinks in bed: I’ll not drink to that
“The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” has hitherto been a joy, a positive. It has now become a negative.
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…
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…
It is sprats for dinner tonight. How many years has it been since I heard those words? Far too many, sad to say. Such a simple pleasure, and so damned tasty too. And healthy as well, for we are now frequently told that oily fish should be a regular part of our diet – information…