A blockboard star and a camel and a fort: Three cardinals and the greatest story ever told. A broken camera-phone and a struggling car. the usual chaos and crisis management the budget festivities and the carefully executed control of expectations; the postcard winter landscapes and scuppered family travel-plans; the boiler that’s packed up with 2 days to go heart-warming offerings; […]

My mobile phone has had a fortnight of mystery and adventure. It started with a flurry of what I can only describe as abusive texts (some with violent and threatening language) and a series of silent calls. I started answering these calls, but there was never a response. I then tried to ignore the calls, […]

I’m in the grand old City of Hull – that place which gave us the pioneering spirit of William Wiberforce, Amy Johnson and er…The Housemartins – and I’m house-sitting for friends Jill and Adam, who are soon to relocate to that epicentre of creativity – yes, Birmingham!  While the Dowse/Ledger conglomeracy are off holidaying in […]

I’m very excited about this week’s launch of Catherine O’Flynn’s second novel, The News Where You Are, published by Penguin. To say I’m a rubbish reader feels like an understatement – I feel proud of myself if I can get through more than one novel a year. The long-haul journey to/from Oz last month would’ve been the […]

I moved house this weekend. A rough trawl through the years puts this latest (rented) abode as my 24th place of residence; a fact I find faintly worrysome. This particular move was physically and emotionally knackering. No sooner had I dumped all my stuff, unsorted, into the house I now share with Johnny HamFisted, I […]

Belfast Queen’s Uni On top of the stacks In the old, abandoned Library. The information has been carted off, But ghosts are still present.