Crossroads
“This is a rubbish idea, Dad,” Michelle moans. I hear ‘rubbish’ and ‘Dad’. As ever. I thought this setting for social media posts to promote my guitar lessons was a cool spoof. But this is not a crossing of red dirt tracks in Mississippi, where blues legends might be made. We are standing under a … Read more
Resurrection
It’s a lush mess of dark-green, splattered over mossy gravestones. I jump from my van, sighing to see the mighty yew tree uprooted and split by last night’s gale. A fallen giant. Its limbs are still groaning from its fall, and the giving up of its secret. The woman in an anorak standing by it … Read more
Stand and deliver!
When I hear this, my mind conjures up a black-cloaked figure on a huge glossy black horse, a masked face, a tricorn hat, and a bunch of lace at his throat. A crack and a flash from his pistol, fired only in warning, of course. The highwayman – a gentleman robber, a romantic icon. It’s … Read more
A Calculated Risk
You only know how good a product is when you have to use it in extreme circumstances. Most products you use straightaway, and you get some reassurance. Some…some, you hope never to have to use. It was ten years ago that I—or, I should say—the company of which I am the major shareholder—bought rubber-covered, steel-framed … Read more
