My tally for items lost in the last 12 months has just reached five. The outcomes have been varied - a mobile phone left on a bench was returned two weeks later after negotiating with an anonymous man and giving a ‘goodwill’ payment of £20. A cherished umbrella left hanging over a billboard in Oxford Street…
Just pretending
Right up to my teenage years reciting a poem out loud or acting in the school play were essentially impossible. Learning lines was difficult enough but even if the words were memorised, the presence of an audience would strike me dumb. Performance and I were incompatible. Similarly, pretence and deceit were an anathema. One of…
Tangled up in blue
Can white men sing the blues? There's clearly no point in asking guest contributor Neil Taylor... I was going to take my small son to the Science Museum to meet up with one of his older siblings and my wife was attempting to dress him for the journey. She called up the stairs to me, asking would…
An unsettling holiday
Three weeks ago I lost the use of a word. Ask me how I felt about my recent holiday in Rajasthan [see Magic Carpet, greyhares blog, 22nd Jan, 2011] and out would come ‘fascinating’, ‘spellbinding’, ‘enriching’, ‘educative’; but ‘enjoyable’ – no! The problem was that any feelings I had of enjoyment had been drowned by those…
Life after teeth
They say "once a dentist, always a dentist" but then what? Phil Gould wonders what it takes to be a writer. What’s in a word? Well, some course their way through our conversations with hardly a ripple, worthy if anonymous, like “patina” and “winglet”. Others might invite a subliminal snigger, like “wriggle” or “heave”. Others still…
Magic carpet
Every other year we take a special holiday and this time it was to India. The star attraction was a 1,000 mile journey through Rajasthan travelling by rail at night in the "Palace on Wheels" and sightseeing by coach during the day. The sleeper carriages and restaurant cars had been renovated to recreate a velvety…
Keep young and beautiful
How to stay "in" in the media. Vivien Perkins offers an insider view. Most people will be delighted that Miriam O’Reilly has won her case for discrimination on grounds of age against the BBC. Nearly 40 years in the world of film and television leaves me in no doubt that ‘fitting in’ with the plans…
Seasonal cheer
At 7.40am on Tuesday 21 December the TV cameras turned once again to look at the moon. And, in keeping with predictions, it had disappeared - eclipsed by earth's shadow. Journalists and astro-pundits dwelt on it being the first full lunar eclipse on a winter solstice for almost 400 years. Although interesting, for me it was…