Could be an age thing...When I was young the drama, the story, the scene of fiction - this to me was the real reality, cutting through the pedestrian precincts of organised logical thought and reaching to 'the significant heart of everything.' These days I'm jaded with fictional passion and prefer the metallic jolt of hard fact. Fact can explode preconceptions it can brighten my mind with the unexpected, the harsh, the funny, the telling...

These have been a bit erratic lately but should be all up and working now. If anyone's still having problems please let me know in a comment below - thanks!

This is not the Blog I intended to write when I arrived home on Tuesday 8th November 2016. It was going to be a lighthearted review of nice couple of days at the seaside, following up the London to Brighton veteran car race, then a ‘Sensational'60s' concert with some big names from that great musical era. But when I had almost finished my piece, something awful happened, and my blog seemed frivolous and inappropriate. I Iive in the town of New...

This time of year brings me vivid memories, none more vivid than my father and his harmonica....His harmonica was always with him...ready to play a tune on...no matter where or when...He played the accordion too but the harmonica was portable. And there was a song he’d warm up with, he played it all the time, over and over again...it was a musical backdrop in my days with him that lingered in my mind....I had heard him play this tune since...

Hyperbole: hyperbole hʌɪˈpəːbəli/Submit noun exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. synonyms: exaggeration, overstatement, magnification, amplification, embroidery, embellishment, overplaying, excess, overkill. Pre-Trump becoming the 45 th American President and post-Trump, taking up tenure of office and becoming United States President, is not will Donald J Trump, last the four-year term, but will the world? That may...

Every year, at around this time of year, I promise myself that I will finally get around to compiling a collection of my Christmas stories and, every year without fail, procrastination overtakes me and my window of opportunity gets frozen solid by the Jack Frost of bone idleness. The barmy part about all of this is that I often find myself (which can be a shock if you weren't looking for yourself in the first place) writing more things in the...

Okay, here it is: I'm a Democrat and feel loyalty to the Obama administration, especially Barack and Michelle. I've been an intelligence and also a political operative, and I don't like losing... we don't like losing... any more than any other team. When I was a major leader in the Sanders movement: I did a lot to build and sail that ship and I tried to go down with it... had to get back up, align with and forgive the Clintons... I am a young...

An excellent poem and little paen to the bat - plus an Inspiration Point that should really set you thinking: https://www.abctales.com/story/johnshade/extra-time https://www.abctales.com/story/markle/bat-time https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip Cheers, Tony

I’m not sure how to write reviews. Usually, I start by saying something about the writer, such as I knew nothing about Gay Talese until I read an interview with him in The Observer Review, which focused on his latest book, the name of which I can’t remember, but the story centered around a man who ran a hotel and peeked through the ceiling at the room below and the couples that had sex in them. That piqued my interest. Next up, an online...

Life is sometimes full of lessons. Many we learn through trials and adversities. It makes you stronger for the day of tomorrow and though live moves forward , the reminders will always be there , given the changes you went through. Those changes still shaped you into the leader you are today. One that has learned, who grew but most of all conquered. In everyday life the smallest incident can later prove to be our biggest lesson. Still that is...