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…
Simple pleasures of a plate of sprats
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…
Listening to the body
THE human body is a wonderful thing, but it does have a mind of its own. A mind that overrides opposition, one that will rarely accept deviation from the course it has set itself upon. And thus it was at precisely 2.53 pm today that it made an unheralded announcement: a truce would be called…
Bromo bashed – an excerpt from Book 6
A few paces on and he stopped at the entrance where he had seen the skinny youth enter and emerge. The sign was in full view, Skippers Ope. One skipper or many, he mused; something only a relentless pedant would worry about. Daylight was fading. The ope was an unlit passage between neighbouring terraced houses, roofed…
All you need to know about a (M&S) cucumber
ON a day when Waitrose announced it was following a move at least partially made by other supermarkets, it was intriguing to discover how dear old fuddy-duddy M&S was faring. So, in the interests of research (are there other reasons for favouring this pricey purveyor?), I bought a cucumber from the M&S Food Hall (such…
All aboard the writer’s train of inspiration
It has been like waiting for a train when unaware that there has been a derailment further down the line. You wait in hope. At first, quite patiently, unconcerned. It will be coming soon. Gradually other emotions creep in. A slight anxiety, morphing into concern. What’s gone wrong? The train should be here by now….
Pooh-pooh to penalties for pooping
NO matter which way you look at it, it’s a doggone mess. I refer to the widely welcomed but totally ridiculous decision by Cornwall Council to introduce on-the-spot fines for those who allow their dogs to foul our footpaths, parks and playing fields. This is window dressing of the worst kind. The type of initiative…
Watch out! The muse has struck
Uninvited, but more welcome than a cold shower on a stinking hot day in Melbourne, my muse has reappeared. As usual, she came from nowhere and without a prompt. I was merely taking s stroll (or perhaps I should say ‘we’) to combat inertia, mental as well as physical. And there she was, whispering seductive…