In the clifftop garden the flowersare orange and yellowbut the stream is dry She gazes into the futureI stare into the past: I need special glassesbut still the image is fuzzy We play crazy golf:it is a close match Out at…
Read: Crazy golf
Life is hard, but it bounces. So while variously tinted media chew away at loosely disguised propaganda about the state of the nation – and indeed the world – there remains within our grasp an alternative reality, known usually as…
Can you remember when highways authorities saw it as their job to improve driving conditions? This seemed to work well for very many years, but now the worm has turned, and up-and-coming highways engineers seem to see it as their…
We all know by now how difficult it is to get hold of a doctor. I have got hold of a couple of nurses recently, and there is a lot to be said for that – in fact, some might…
a maelstrom of rootssnakes towards the lochtracked by rough barktraps for the unwaryprepared to bite dead water in betweenand in the distance an island castleechoes earlier battlesdifferent strategiesrumours of dunsinane not easy to miss I touch your lipscold with ice…
Read: Rothiemurchus
I remember the moment when I saw my first speed camera. It was in the early 1990s, on my way back to Norwich from Scotland. I was overtaking a lorry, and it flashed its lights at me. At first I…
Under the surfacebeyond the marsh’s black and goldsomething is going on Leaves like sailboats browned by the windmove mysteriously to and froinvisible creatures pulling stringssetting the courselower down so that what we see is not the real story: even the ducks tripping…
Read: Hide
In chess, the only piece that cannot be captured is the King. If he loses, he dies. Checkmate: the king is dead. There is no coronation. No funeral, either. The Queen, on the other hand, can be captured. But in…
Artificial intelligence may be a real threat to mankind. So much so that Elon Musk is now diving into the whirlpool with the intention, he says, of combating the influence of potentially destructive left-leaning chatbots – in much the same…
Many years ago – in the 1950s and 60s – I went to Hemsby a lot. We used to rent a bungalow in the dunes furthest from the sea, accessible by a road with interesting ups and downs. It was the way…