Recently, I was bored. Seriously lacking in inspiration. Given my inflated sense of my own intelligence I took to trawling through dense publications on modern philosophy to try and kick-start some stimulating ideas. “I want witty, with depth” I kept thinking, “big ideas with a humorous kick … meaningful stuff”. Smart. As I read and [...]
Here’s the thing: I’m average. That’s not such a brilliant revelation on the surface of it, but for the longest time I’ve been in denial. Stick with me here, this is a celebration my friends! I realised recently that there has been a low-level panic going on in the background of my life. I’ve been [...]
It happened again the other night. I fell in love with Joanna Newsom when I saw her play live. Ms Newsom sounds like the love-child of Kate Bush and a Gelfling from the movie The Dark Crystal. And she plays the harp. As she tickled my ear drums, I silently cursed my own idiocy for [...]
I was asked recently by a very concerned friend if I was all right. We were in one of the most idyllic places on earth as she asked me this. She asked completely out of the blue. After assuring her that I was “Fine! … Good! … Excellent!”, I realised that my brow was furrowed [...]
I have come to appreciate that my mind is a small yet enjoyable place. I’m not given to expansive thought so much as tiny delight. Recently, I found myself in Edinburgh, Scotland. Me and my little mind. Edinburgh is a place I’d always wanted to visit, and as I had expected, my mind crackled audibly [...]
I’ve been spending long, distracted hours staring into middle distance again. It tends to happen after a visit home. Daydreaming. When I snap myself out of it to concentrate on the task at hand (i.e. being a writer) I find I am smiling, so it’s not all bad. But I have been feeling a bit [...]
You have to be clear about things. Being that I’m not the most sensitive or intuitive individual in the world, I know what it’s like when you’re expected to just pick up on something, or get a hint. Generally, I miss those hints. Subtlety is not my strong suit. Mostly, you need to be very [...]
Helen remembers it was pre-World War II. She was a nurse. Some of the patients on her ward were there for psychiatric reasons. “One lovely old duck” she recalls “was in one of the ‘closed rooms’ on the ward”. A ‘closed room’ from what I can tell, is equivalent to a padded cell. On her [...]
I think I might genuinely be a fraud.
Foreign language and its unmapped terrain.
Socialise with me