Stories from all categories
8
In the supermarket I was queuing in front of a woman with a lot of groceries. Her arms were laden and I stepped aside to offer her the space to put her stuff down on ...read more
Today my boyfriend discovered the illicit dried flower factory I have been running in his apartment. At first glance it looks as though a two-dimensional squirrel has made herself a nest out of private papers ...read more
7
A German's interpretation of my Australian pronunciation of flasher just yielded the phantom of the flesher: a guy who walks round with his coat open, flashing people with his flesh. Having cherished sundry other examples ...read more
2
Is it Germans who are so trusting, or just Berliners? A woman cycled up with her grandchild, I think grandchild, in a netted baby trailer and parked her bike under the tree where we were ...read more
4
Walking home we were following a guy who could not stop fiddling with his own underpants. They were clearly intensely uncomfortable and as he walked, he plucked at them, front and back. It was amusing ...read more
23
What bothers me most about getting older is losing that glorious, elastic authority which I used always to use to shame men out of behaving boorishly. This afternoon we came through the park and passed ...read more
9
I have a friend who teaches piano. Today she said to me, "I have two students now from Australia. And both of them are called Oliver." "Wow," I said, "how many Australians called Oliver can ...read more
7
Heavy in the heart today and the German man I ran into at the mailboxes, who returned my hello so cheerfully, was a shaft of light. Coming through the heavy courtyard doors a moment later ...read more
44
Mum's in hospital. Dad's in hospital. Both in the same hospital and admitted on the same night. He has pneumonia, we think, and they're waiting for the results of the PSA test on his prostate ...read more