Flu, and the yellow bird has flown

Sorry to moan, but I’ve got flu.   At least that’s what I think I’ve got.   It could be the return of the auld trubble – the malaria, but it doesn’t quite fit the pattern.  I begin to feel wobbly and shivery about dusk every afternoon, not every other day like I did... Read more »

The Cost of Punctuation.

How can any of us be sure?  What bowels would not be angered by what cannot be explained. There may be no red flags, but you’re drowning In unpredictable pain.  .   Just remember, life is a terminal illness  and Medicine an inexact  science;  an exercise in probability.  In shadow and with occult blood, the assassin flatters to deceive . So what’s the... Read more »

Too tired to remember Easter.

Easter passed me by this year.  It’s not because I’m an atheist.  I think beliefs, faiths, meanings are essential to our well being, but very personal and for me not to be culturally regulated.   I believe in love, metaphysics, forgiveness, wild places and regular exercise.  No, it was because I... Read more »

the ‘umble spleen.

It lurks tucked up behind the stomach, a soft black leather purse moulded to the contours of adjacent organs like a dark shadow, the sort of organ you’d ignore, a remnant, a vestige, a redundancy.  No wonder surgeons removed the spleen with impunity if they were operating on the stomach. ... Read more »

Cries and Whispers

I first experienced Cries and Whispers  in 1973.  I was, even then, drawn to the deeper, darker aspects of human psychology.  It was no wonder, therefore, that I was into Bergman. I rated the Seventh Seal and Persona as the greatest films I had seen.   Then came Cries and Whispers.  And now,... Read more »

Epitaph

Reader!   If thou hast a heart famed for tenderness and pity, contemplate this spot. In which are deposited the remains of a young lady, whose artless beauty, innocence of mind and gentle manner obtained her the esteem of all who knew her. But when nerves were too delicately spun to bear the rude shakes and jostlings, which we meet in this transitory world, nature gave... Read more »

The dangers of going to bed.

It had been a long night.  Although my hospital bed allowed me to adjust my position,  the slightest movement of my back was agony, and I could not get comfortable.    The plastic mattress was damp with sweat and my pyjama top was rucked up my back and impossible to adjust.  I... Read more »