We always went to your flat in Walthamstow, but this time there was a problem with the tube. “We’ll get out and walk.” You said. I asked why it was called… “There’ll be a reason for it” You cut in. There’s always a reason for it. There’ll be some bloke who does talks in the back rooms of pubs all… Read it
We’re in this together. The climate of mounting austerity is forcing all of us to make decisions about what needs to remain and what we can do without. No stone must be left unturned n our efforts to brng about what wll be a dffcult and possbly panful transton to the new order. Nobody wnts to crete clmte of… Read it
He called me his Queen. I never called him my King. Except once when he gave me a brooch. “You listened?” I said. ” I thought you were asleep.” One night, when the world was at its coldest and darkest, I awoke sweating from a nightmare. It was then I whispered my one and only story into his ear. It was the… Read it
The operation had been a success. The Ophthalmologist had shaken her hand. “Enjoy your new life,” he’d said. Leaving Moorfields she headed for the Old Street roundabout, a vortex that sucked people under and round and out again, blue tubing holding an advert for the latest phone above. On her way, a mother and her scowling son glanced up at… Read it
Heathrow Terminal 4 has an unusual station. It’s only got one platform, and all the trains go in the same direction, round a loop. It’s used by airlines you’ve never heard of, flying to places you wouldn’t want to go. Airport security tends to be more interested in who’s arriving than who’s already here, so as long as you don’t… Read it
“Mum, don’t stare.” “I’m not, dear.” she said. God. But everyone was looking at the six foot five giant wading through the grey sludge of home-bound commuters. The rain pooled at our feet as we clung to the spindly stem of my black umbrella, it shivering more than us in the wind. A Poundland Christmas present from a girlfriend (now… Read it
The park was not green any more, Doolan considered, as he stepped off the tube train. He headed eagerly for the exit, head full of excitement about the Winter Sales in the hundreds of shops in Retail Park. He didn’t notice his feet being swept from under him until it was too late and he was flat on the grubby… Read it
Key to staying alive in a snake pit is stillness. People who do it for religion or sport have learned to pare the repertoire of the animated entity down to its basics. They can only allow themselves the motion of breathing. Of seeing: in the snake pit, looking is a luxury. Now and again someone falls into the snake pit… Read it
