Tag Archives: Memoir

Pakefield Sea Front

      Waves.   Waves walking towards me as   I sit drinking tea at a pub by the sea   Thinking about fish running beneath the surface of the   Milky swirl of the tea as I swish my teaspoon around   Making whirlpools   Kites ripple and twirl around in the seaContinue reading “Pakefield Sea Front”

Facebook Reunion

Re-emergence of old friends. Ancient connections. Whispered notes in tutorials. Student cars. Minis, 2CVs and Morris Minors. Starving, suicidal acquaintances raced into surgeries, collapsing into the future. In journeys long gone. And misremembered. False recollections. Old cells died and replaced. Recharged.     Copyright owned by Jay Cool Image: Photo of 2CV from PXhere, aContinue reading “Facebook Reunion”

A Walk in the Grounds of Cornwallis Arms

Cracked white paint on a traffic pylon, parading as Queen Elizabeth’s cement filled pock marked face.   Black paint speckled with green mould and a leafless twig coiled around it, like a dead arm clinging to an iron bed-post.   A black shiny duck’s head with freckles of bottle green, like a snooker ball wearingContinue reading “A Walk in the Grounds of Cornwallis Arms”

Fear

        A large modern house with dormer windows protruding from an expansive roof, peering over tall brick walls designed to put off the nosy.   A coughing, spluttering heavy goods vehicle hurtling towards me.   A ‘For Sale’ sign attached to the front garden post of the ‘mansion’.   A tightly wrinkledContinue reading “Fear”

Inside Out

      Taut skin Belly button sinking.   Who are you?   I feel that you –   cannot really be there   inside me.   I don’t want to be turned inside out.   Have you got anything to do with me?   Really?   Will I cease to be real   whenContinue reading “Inside Out”

Do I still know you?

Do I still know you?   The walls themselves groan with your echoing moans.   Voices like out of tune violas merge into the wailing phones.   As they ring, desperate to be heard above your din,   Even the TV newsreader gets louder, struggling for recognition.   It would be rude to cover myContinue reading “Do I still know you?”

Death at Christmas

The tree is up and the lights are on The glow is bright and warm   But I feel cold     The tree is real, not a plastic job   The colour is green, but parts are yellow   and the ferns are falling     The glow may be bright   But theContinue reading “Death at Christmas”

Revisiting a Childhood Home

  The smell of sleeping mouths hanging wide open; damp fumes spreading.   A pair of shoes with black melted plastic soles sizzling next to the fire.   A panting beast – it’s dreams interrupted with the occasional snore – with bottom parked on singed shoes.   A pair of red ankles emerging from beneath theContinue reading “Revisiting a Childhood Home”

Back to the Myddle: Day Six of an Ancestral Adventure

Day 6? There is a Day 6, but I’m spending most of it back in my usual haunt in Suffolk, propped up on my bed (with a beautiful view from my window),  recovering from yesterday’s eight-hour trip back from the Myddle; and, courtesy of my laptop, incommunicado with the love of my life  – Ancestry.com! I do love Ancestry.com, and theContinue reading “Back to the Myddle: Day Six of an Ancestral Adventure”

Back to the Myddle: Day One of an Ancestral Journey

Back to Myddle: Day One Back. Back to Myddle, the home of my ancestors. Having spent much of my life with the squawking of seagulls and the swishing of the sea, I’m not sure what to expect. Will I feel at home in a tiny village in the middle of Shropshire? I pull in atContinue reading “Back to the Myddle: Day One of an Ancestral Journey”