The day was blackly overcast, rain fell steadily, and Alice hadn’t seen a soul all day, not even her nosy neighbour. She’d almost given up hope, when the doorbell rang. In the hallway, she screwed up her eyes, trying to identify the silhouetted outline in the patterned glass of the front door. The bell rang […]
Category: Prose
Anticipating Hallows Eve
Living between sea and waterways, I love this time of year. Schools have celebrated harvest, clocks have gone back, and nights are drawing in with frost and spooky tales. Along the coast and above the marshlands, the sky is haunted, filled with the cries of wintering birds. In the woods, frills of fungus cling to […]
Memories on the Breeze
More than one hundred and fifty years ago the garden belonged to someone else, a different family. Back then the trees were mere saplings, there was a neat path, fragrant roses, herb garden and vegetable patch. Life was simpler, with fewer gadgets, neighbours and expectations. It was quieter and slower paced. The inhabitants of the […]
Loving Milly
Milly lined up the pills on the windowsill. The furniture went with the bailiffs. She remembered the thunderous knock at the door – the bell hadn’t rung since the power was cut. The children were safely dispatched to their father’s new house, where they could play in the enormous garden. Milly didn’t even have a […]
Better than nothing at all
Back in the seventies when I was a student in Cologne, I submitted poems to various publications; some were published, and others returned with the usual brief note about the poem(s) not being the right fit for an edition or anthology. I once received a short letter from Zoe Fairbairns when she edited Spare Rib, […]
When the Garden Calls
When I was younger, I used to enjoy being on the move, travelling to new places, revisiting ones I’d fallen in love with, and spending time with family and friends. These days it’s a struggle to get out of the village! I feel comfortable in the greenness and timelessness of where I live, but sometimes […]
writing in north norfolk 