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The kids are back at school. You know what that means, the school run, clogged streets and roads. Banners hung outside school gates warning parents that ‘Parking here is dangerous and selfish’, but some park there anyway, because it doesn’t apply to them, they’ll just be a minute and the people that are dangerous and selfish are the ones without cars, because their poor wee Daren might get wet and catch cold. My response isn’t two fingers in a V...

https://authorsinterviews.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/here-is-my-interview-... I can't claim any great credit here. Talking about yourself is easy. Talking about someone else, now that's a hard one.

When I hear people say ‘my husband/wife/partner is my best friend’, I don’t know whether to be envious and reassess my own life, sympathise, or just vomit. For though my husband and I love each other and have done for over 40 years, I would not call him my Best Friend. We enjoy some of the same things, have some friends in common and agree on many things – but disagree on many more. We respect and admire each other and love our large extended...

There is absolutely no reason why anyone in their right mind would want to know more about me, and yet, in defiance of all rational thought, someone has interviewed me! I'm afraid I can't promise any tantalising insights into my sordid existence. In fact, it would seem to be the case that I'm just as boring as I always thought I was. However, if you're remotely interested (and it does, at least, feature a link to ABCtales) then here it is: https...

Peter May is one of those authors I kept meaning to read. But like everybody else I’ve got a stack of books waiting and no time to read them. I’m glad I found the time. He’s good. He’s very good and the characters he creates swagger out of the page and into your life, so you care about them and what happens to them. The characters that stand out most are the Scottish islands, such as Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra. The islanders on the windswept...

Congratulations to the brilliant winning entries! http://www.abctales.com/blog/jolono/london-competition-winners

The Competition was inspired by a good friend of mine, The Gentle Author. He has a daily blog called Spitalfields Life. He also produces the most wonderful books, all with London as their main theme. I managed to get hold of a couple of copies of his best- selling book “The London Album” and thought they would make great prizes for a London based competition. The entries were, as expected, of the highest quality. We had the hustle and bustle of...

I’ve always been interested in old, well-used things. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure so they say. Very true. I only wish they had such things when my kids were small, would have saved me a mint. To me, walking round a Boot Fair is as interesting as doing a museum, and opens up all sorts of imaginings about previous owners in my tiny mind. With the added bonus of perhaps acquiring something useful for a fraction of the ‘new’ price. OH...

It would be unfair to suggest I read Positive Intelligence with an open mind, or even read it, rather I flipped through it. I did read today’s report in The Observer by Harriet Sherwood, the headline of which is Top cleric says C of E reforms risk making it a ‘suburban sect’. How does that apply to Shirzad Chamine’s New York Time’s bestseller? Well, I’d argue that Positive Intelligence (PQ) which measure the percentage of your mind that is...