Sunrise

One of our bathroom windows, in the gable end, faces south-east and gives a clear, unfrosted view of the Cleveland Hills some 30 miles away. At this time of year, with the trees leafless, the outline of the moortop is unobstructed. Yesterday at 8:15 I looked out and for a second or two thought there was a raging fire burning.

Slowly the blaze resolved into an arc, the fire not thirty but ninety-three million miles away. The sun rose; a perfect disc viewed through a thin veil of cloud. It could have been the Serengeti.

[Authentic selfie - 11 December 2025]

TOLLED

The church bell tolls, poppies round the memorial stone lie silent

As the dead, fallen but not buried here, names only are inscribed

A toll paid in far off lands for peace, we were told. Some hope.

[Poem* - 13 November 2025]

*A Sijo – a Korean poetry form consisting of three lines of 14 to 16 syllables

Laces

My new shoes, of the light walking variety, have laces of excessive length. Even after double knotting the surplus ends flap around alarmingly.

They remind me of the old football boot laces that were manufactured to a length that enabled them to be tied once, then looped a couple of times round the sole, then threaded through an eyelet at the back of the heel before a final securing knot was tied on the instep. By the end of the game, they became a muddy mess impossible to untie with fingers numb from cold.

[Authentic selfie - 6 November 2025]

ADVICE FROM A PAIR OF PLIERS

Get a grip, man, and be sure

To hold firm to your task.

Keep your aims in life secure

Forever hold them fast

 

Do not let cross threaded screws

Or bent and rusty nails

Stand in the way of things to do.

Never be derailed.

 

But beware too iron a grip

Can danger put you in.

A lack of care can cause a slip

And slice a strip of skin.

[Poem - 18 October 2025]

BLIND ENCOUNTERS

It was Mary’s third visit to Blind Encounters, and she now knew the protocol. Arrival at the discreet doorway between the nail bar and the florist had to be exactly on time, a necessary precaution to ensure each client arrived unseen. Inside she was conducted to the ladies’ lounge and presented with a small glass of champagne and the eye mask. She sipped the one and adjusted the other for comfort.

“Is madam ready?” asked a female voice.

“Quite ready,” she replied’, nervously, wondering what her husband, Henry, would think if he knew she was here.

Her empty glass was taken. A hand at her elbow guided her along a carpeted corridor, into a room, where she knew was a bed. And a man, who was, she was assured, also blindfolded. The door closed behind her.

“Hello?” said a male voice. Familiar.

She hesitated before replying, “Henry! Is that you?”

 

[A one-hundred-and-fifty-word story -16 October 2025]

A productive day

Yesterday, I addressed a dry patch in my writing with a day out.

I find a day spent in public spaces conducive to creative writing. The process is think through the plot on the journeys, and get it down on paper in the libraries and hostelries. So, my trip – Teesflex to Darlington, Azuma express to Northallerton, and local bus to Bedale – took in writing sessions in Darlington library; then the Durham Ox, the Fortunate Son café, and  library in Northallerton; before finishing off the story in the Green Dragon beer garden in Bedale.

I wasn’t stranded in Bedale. I met the family gathered there to watch a performance of Shrek at the high school. A good evening to end a productive day.

[Authentic selfie - 17 July 2025]

Community Carnival

Coming into town last Saturday, I stumbled into the Community Carnival, which I found rather impressive for the range of organisations represented – children’s groups obviously (including my granddaughter as a Victorian urchin) but also adult-based drama and music groups.

The parade wound its way to Stanhope Park where an even wider range of organisations had stalls and stands to showcase their activities and recruit new members.

A good aspect of Darlington, possibly under-appreciated.

[Authentic selfie - 3 July 2025]

Turner & Austen

This week I visited an exhibition at Harewood House that celebrates, in combination, JMW Turner and Jane Austen, exact contemporaries born 250 years ago in 1775. Other than that birth year, they had in common works relating to stately homes such as Harewood, Turner painted it, and while Austen probably never visited, she set her novels in such locations.

They moved in the same circles but probably never met. Until recently, when they regularly snuggle up together in wallets and purses, respectively depicted on our £20 and £10 notes.

[Authentic selfie - 26 June 2025]

Railway Pioneers

Made a long-put-off visit to Hopetown yesterday to see the railway pioneers – three moving engines that ignited the railways – Penydawen, the Steam Elephant, and good old Locomotion 1. Important in a historical sense, but first impression is a scrapman’s dream. Closer inspection reveals boilers, pistons, cogs, flywheels, and the like that somehow made the transition from a drawing to moving reality.

[Authentic selfie - 12 June 2025]

Magic Weekend

Highlight of the week was attending the Magic Weekend at Newcastle on Sunday. Not, as you may think, a festival of prestidigitation, but a feast of rugby league at St James’ Park. Three games spread over six hours with fans from Wigan, Warrington, Hull, Wakefield, Castleford, and Huddersfield mingling in good-humoured rivalry.

Tackles, tries, and tense finishes made for a good watch, the players showing speed, strength, but also trickery, and despite their meaty fists, appropriately for the magic weekend, some sleight of hand in their passes and offloads.

[Authentic selfie - 8 May 2025]