pity flamingo

Every week I cross town on the train and we pass a tower block of identical grey-frame units which have grey balconies. One balcony, at eye level with the train, has a bright pink inflatable ...read more

salami baby jesus

I may or may not have been down to the markets today to visit the man who runs a wonderful salami stall; he offers salamii (that's the plural) of goose, duck, venison, and pig. This ...read more

the young man with a long way to go

The young man in the place where we are staying is Moroccan and comes from the desert, which he describes to me as 'sympa', sympathetic, a kind place. As opposed to the hustle and throng ...read more

all for you

Alone in the house for the first time in days I feel a sadness descend and take me in its wings. I'm sad for Dad. It has come from pottering and tidying, I washed up ...read more

welcome, Auntie

I've joined a Facebook group which posts pictures of people's dogs. The rules are long and repetitive: only dog pics and pics of dogs being doggish and cute: no lost dog posts, no questions about ...read more

the boast of Christmas past

Last year and the year before that and four years ago too we went down on the train to West Germany, to a tiny village lying under the skirts of the old woods. This is ...read more

late night and overhead

Late night walk through the freezing fog. "Like Blade Runner." We turn down all the opportunities in the park to buy pot. Here is a street where all the houses are Fifties, which must have ...read more

is still a man

A homeless man was sleeping in the stairwell when I came home. Or, to put it in the terms which my instinctive body understood, a stranger, appearing unexpectedly, had barricaded my door; his body was ...read more

apple a day

Saturday night, home with the one I love. We cycled over to the Korean grocers' in the freezing cold mist to get ingredients and I made soto ayam, my favourite Javanese chicken soup from childhood. ...read more