Cherrypicked stories
Gift: A Son's Story (extract) - Facing up
Another extract from my memoir of my time as mum's full-time carer at the end of her life. Although mum had recovered from her kidney injury, her...
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Our ways to be free
We know for sure that one of them will drop dead. And not just plain dead. No, the body will be shattered, broken, in pieces. What an ending that...
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- 1690 reads
Forest in the Brain
I need something for the shade Where it’s deeper, colder I’m not expecting flowers A pair of leaves, a small sign But nothing grows here Beneath this...
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- 4326 reads
Gift: A Son's Story (extract) - Respite
A few years back, I posted some extracts on ABC of a memoir I'd written just after my mother had passed away. It was about the final seven months we'...
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- 4373 reads
What happened when Grandpa gave Grandma a miniature doll’s hardware shop on their 55th year anniversary
In a sunlit corner of the living room, where dust motes danced in golden beams, Grandpa, with a twinkle in his eye, presented a gift wrapped in...
Building A Raven
First you venture to where even the crows don't know about, the snow-capped height in the unforgiving light, with the merciless dawn daring you to...
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- 2744 reads
What Is It Like To Have A Dad?
I love that Boots advert, where the Dad, cleans his glasses, puts them on, then his daughter joins him in the car. Her Dad quickly looks her up and...
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- 2103 reads
A hundred moments in autism - Sometimes there is just too much
I am currently distracted by: My wife, emptying her purse the way she does, all ADHD, spraying her valuables as an abstract artist sprays paint. I...
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- 1351 reads
Mayhem
There's plenty of mayhem round the place where we live.
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- 2818 reads
Plenty
Well, there you have it. Standing at East Croydon with my shopping, train that should whisk me to Redhill in all of seventeen minutes. Seventeen! But...
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- 2710 reads
"Willow's Missing Tail" 16
Martha had left the house very early with Willow. They walked the ten blocks to Main Street together but when they approached the Heaven’s Brew café...
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- 4954 reads
Jimmy
Jimmy Under the trees at the end of the field. The day we built our camp. We had rusty nails, sweet cigarettes. A radio that played opera. You showed...
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- 1737 reads
The meek shall inherit the earth
You don't expect it in a car wash. You're not concerned at all that it could happen. Fierce arguing, showing off power, real fuss, and commotion...
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- 3170 reads
Peter finally sits on my lap ((Lap year 2024)
In the quiet corners of our home, Peter the cat, a creature of mystery, for seventeen years danced through shadows, never one to settle, never one to...
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- 5462 reads
Atrocious
The phone rang. I was reading up in a cupboard. In the hallway, at the top of the stairs. It was full of books, and I’ve a lamp and desk, but it...
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- 2602 reads
The Jean Genie (Dead Reckoning series - Part 23)
In which Samantha helps the detectives find the key, but there's no clear answers from the mess they find themselves in!
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- 2006 reads
A Year With the Brighouse Stars Walking Club - The September Weekend Part 2
A Year with the Brighouse Stars Walking Club The Club September Weekend Part 2 - Saturday Beryl’s full English breakfasts were something of a legend...
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A Year With the Brighouse Stars Walking Club - The September Weekend Part 1
A Year with the Brighouse Stars Walking Club The Club September Weekend Part 1 – Friday A note Readers of the previous tales of the Brighouse Stars...
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Turnips and a scapegoat - Chapter 8
As the months passed, Sebastian discovered that he was happy - truly, deeply happy. He missed Oliver, of course, but he knew that their parting had...
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After the Wedding.
We arrived tired and late at the hotel. Rush hour traffic on the M8. Tailbacks. Too few petrol stations and endless road blocks scoured what was left...
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- 1493 reads