To my niece Willow, I was born on the 10 th December 1962. Fifty-five years ago not only was my mum Jean alive, but she had given birth and was nursing me back to health somewhere in darkest Braeholm, Helensburgh. I wasn’t expected to live. I don’t remember the reasons why. Yeh, we showed them mum. What we showed them I’m not really sure. I’m nearer death than birth now. Life is the miracle. And I’m not likely to forget you birthday, Willow. It’...

The photo was taken at 6.30am on New Year’s Day. James (almost 2 years) and Jack (5 years) are having a sleepover and had taken over our bed… they wake up early regardless of whatever day of the year it is. We have a spare room which we’ve set up for grandkids, but they all invade our bedroom early mornings during sleepovers. They are the children of our youngest daughter, Claire. Their dad, Mark, is in hospital for a couple of days having some...

I was feeling rather stodgy after Christmas excess and Mrs. Treaclechops had a mild dose of winter blues, so we decided to have a stroll along the river Rea in south Birmingham. It was a mild 10℃, with a sky of intermittent light cloud and bright sunshine. The start of our walk was a 15-minute drive away and we planned for a half hour wander… one hour in total for the excursion. As ever, I took my camera, but with the bleak winter landscape...

The last Old Firm game of the year and Rangers take a point and could have taken more, but from some crucial saves from Craig Gordon. Ranger’s keeper Wes Foderingham also blocked well, early on, from Moussa Dembele. His save from James Forest was superb. And Scott Sinclair hit him with the ball twice and contrived to miss, just before half time from six yards. A first half that Celtic dominated, after a shaky start, in which Rangers had the...

A long book which does away mostly with character, dialogue and plot. A central character who is a lot of people the main one, Bernardo being a 'mutilated' Fernando, the same environment but more restricted. The lethargy of a still great capital city in a country which ruled the world for centuries. A ledger clerk who is underpaid and accepts it as he has become almost fond of the office where he works as a near robot and who thinks Vasques, his...

Bernard MacLaverty short story collections begins in 1977 with Secrets and ends with his fifth collection in 2006 with Matters of Life & Death . I read one or two of his short stories a day, in no particular hurry. An uneven bunch. I’m looking at the contents page. Some stories stick in the mind more than others. Perhaps that has more to do with the more recently read story. I re-read the introduction, MacLaverty taking a look back at his...

A collection of letters written by people who have been through depression. We address a person 'out there' who we imagine as currently struggling with it. Each letter starts 'dear you'. About 50 letters each of us saying in our own way 'you are not alone' to a person feels they are and 'it won't last forever, that's the depression talking' to the person who feels the illness may never lift. 'From Elsie' is on pages 153-54. A simple format and...

(Shit. I’d a whole spiel in my head about this being the tricky second novel, after the great debut novel and international success of The Cutting Room . But when I checked publication date, it was Louise Welsh’s fifth novel. Not her second. Anyway, I was going to fling in Swing Hammer Swing , Jeff Torrington’s debut novel and his follow up novel The Devil’s Carousel . I raved about the first and emm, didn’t rave about the second. I’d segue away...

It's been a brilliant week for some hard-hitting pieces. After much thought and re-reading, Story of the Week goes to well-wisher for 'A Typical Friday Night'. The quality of the writing makes every word of this story break your heart: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/typical-friday-night In complete contrast, Poem of the Week is Penny4athought's 'Sounds From The Heart'. Though not specifically about Christmas, this lovely piece sums...