Scary worms
Scary worms DM 9th March 2024 I’ve not yet seen the Dune movies, but was listening to a reviewer waxing eloquent and making the claim that seeing the spiralling sandworms was well worth the price of admission. My mind did flick to childhood days on the beach where I watched fishermen dragging meat-baited nets along […]
Responding to runaways
Responding to runaways DM 2nd March 2024 I’m always glad to hear the sounds of grace. I’ve just hit the plot-twist in Charles Dicken’s famous novel David Copperfield. Two of Copperfield’s best friends, from opposite social stations, have run off together, breaking everyone’s heart – the girl’s fiancé, the girl’s adopted father, the boy’s mother, […]
Default faces
Default faces DM 23rd February 2024 When I was growing up, pulling-a-face was challenged with the warning: “If the wind changes, you’ll be stuck looking like that!” I dare say it was one of those threats employed by all parents everywhere, to deter their young charges from annoying their siblings and dampening the mood. (Though […]
Forgiveness
Forgiveness DM 10th February 2024 I like to keep current and relevant, and am pleased to report that I am now only nine years out of date. My daughter insisted I watch the musical Hamilton with her, which premiered the said nine years ago. I had long resisted because it focused on American politics, and […]
Walk on
Walk on DM 3rd February 2023 I think I knew that a person’s gait was one of those unique human biomarkers, like a person’s finger-print, voice, and iris pattern, but it still surprises me. Surely two people on earth walk the same way. But they don’t. Which is why that gait-analysing corridor that appeared in […]
Ponds and prophets
Ponds and prophets DM 27th January 2024 In my day, Jeremiah was a bullfrog. So said the first line of a very hip and happening song: “Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine,” and so on, until it reached the zenith, “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to […]
Again but not forever
Again but not forever DM 16th January 2024 So JN-1. You showed up at my front door, invited yourself in, unpacked your bags, and presented me with your latest variation of viral gifts – leaving my head in a spin, and my body on fire, and chills and fevers coursing through my bones. And finally […]
If a hammer is your only tool
If a hammer is your only tool DM 28th December 2023 I’ve spent the last few weeks tripping around Iceland, soaking up the scenery, but avoiding the cold; both of which are entirely possible, when the mode of travel is a book. Interestingly, my travelling companions, the authors, have weaved their itinerary with the old […]
A Noisy Night
A Noisy Night DM 20th December 2023 “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse.” Well, that’s not your typical night before Christmas for anyone I know, especially people with kids. Like my brother-in-law who tried to assemble a trampoline on Christmas eve, in […]
One chirping bird
One chirping bird DM 11th December 2023 That ‘12 days of Christmas’ song includes a lot of birdlife. Seven swans are swimming. Six geese are laying. Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s quite an assembly of avian choristers chirping out the carols. But for […]