Square eyes and stress by Trevor Plumbly
Serial stupor Mother always insisted that television was an addictive force and, at the ripe age of 75, I’m beginning to believe the old girl was right. These days I can’t see a great deal on the screen, it’s more like having a big grey radio on the wall with lots of adverts, but, even for me, some TV programmes are a must, bringing back memories of the religious SHUSH for the Queen’s speech and Coronation Street. My current addiction is a quiz show called ‘The Chase’. Nightly, beer at hand, I… Read More
A remake too far by Angela Caldin
Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse what with satire and reality colliding in the persons of Donald Trump and Sean Spicer, with the delusional Theresa May hell-bent on confrontation with the EU, at the same time asserting that nurses go to food banks for many complex reasons, and with many observers believing that the end of the world is nigh, my son-in-law informs me that a remake has been made of one of the greatest films of all time: Dirty Dancing. Perfectly unecessary How, I ask myself, can you… Read More
Omphaloskepsis beckons by Trevor Plumbly
Recently, I’ve been having trouble filling my days, so I’ve taken to exploring the oddities of life and seeking internal inspiration. Though I’ve always lusted after an enquiring mind, I’ve never really had time to develop one, but now I’m retired, off the morphine and three parts blind, I’m determined to have a crack at deeper thought. Those who practise omphaloskepsis seem deeper thinkers than the playwrights and poets everyone raves about who just scribble away and come up with heaps of stuff during their lifetime, but only a few snippets survive… Read More
The two sides of Christmas by Angela Caldin
I was in Newmarket a couple of days ago with my elder daughter doing a little Christmas shopping. In the streets the decorations glittered in the sunshine while in the shops the Christmas songs warbled over the festive wares. That’s when it happened, or perhaps I should say more correctly, that’s when it started. It washed over me like a wave, took over my body and mind and turned my heart into a heavy stone. It’s a malaise, a melancholy, a disquiet and a discontent. It’s called Seasonal Curmudgeon Disorder. The Christmas… Read More
Self-publish and be damned! By Emily Smart
Women with clean houses do not have finished books According to the esteemed writer Ernest Hemingway, ‘The first draft of anything is shit.’ So, you’ll be pleased to know we (the three of us wot write our thoughts for the worldwide web to read) have produced a book which has been several (hundred) drafts in the making. Not content with sharing our (ahem) wisdom and witticisms every week, we thought we’d produce a book together. We actually wrote this ‘tome’ several years ago. The manuscript has subsequently been languishing on Angela’s hard… Read More
