Don’t…
… which, famously, was Auberon Waugh’s advice to anyone thinking of writing a book. And sometimes, you can’t help but agree. But I have at last finished my new book, Something of the Night....
Category: Night
The Presteigne One
On the morning of Thursday 17th of June, I was having a bit of a lie-in. I’d been at an all day meeting in Birmingham on the day before, and had finished the meeting...
My Dead Dad, by one half of Your Dad
My Dad was a man without qualities. He died at 11.25pm on May 6th, 2010, just as the election results were starting to come in. As his ultimate wife said to me a few...
On the road again
Sadly, I won’t be able to watch tonight’s final Prime Ministerial debate, as I’m doing a Your Dad gig in Lancaster. And then I’m going to spend the night hanging out at Killington Lake...
Stoned man finds God shock.
I’ve been looking through some old stuff, and I found this little bit from what was part of my notes for The Fool’s Errand, which is my answer to ‘Smile’ or ‘The Teenage Opera’ ...
Your teeth are like stars…
…they come out at night, har har. I thought it might be fun to have a whole bunch of teeth out on Tuesday, and the good people at the Dental Access Centre in Hereford...
Local author in quiz night cheat horror
This time last week, I was playing hard ball table quiz in the Holywood RFC, a few miles outside Belfast. The quiz had been set by the Philosophy Society from Sullivan School, which is...
Chelsea Girls are the best in the world for company
One of the most important characteristics a writer needs is the ability to be alone, to be happy in your own company. I’ve been writing all day (that is to say, the 24th February...
Gentlemen, The Queen!
I’ve just got back from The Mayor of Presteigne’s Annual Fund Raising Sunday Lunch, where I had been asked to give a short after-dinner speech. I like doing this kind of thing, and I’m...
I believe the children are our future…
A few weeks ago, when all the snow was here, I fumed at the sight of dim-witted ‘young people’ wandering about in sub-Arctic conditions in just a t-shirt and without a coat on. Don’t...
Sunday Night is Music Night here on Radio Free Radnorshire
For a few months now, I’ve been chatting with my pal Mark Williams about setting up an internet streaming radio station, based here in my sophisticated apartment in downtown Presteigne. Mark is a top...
In the Night Kitchen
I’ve been teaching on the Creative Writing MA at Liverpool John Moores University for three weeks now, and I emerge from the workshop at 9pm starving hungry; and have been looking for somewhere good...
Funeral for a friend
Yesterday, I went down to Newbury for John Fairfax‘s funeral. John Moat gave the funny and almost unbearably poignant opening tribute. Moat and Fairfax were Arvon‘s co-founders, and were best pals for almost as...
Night Chemistry (and Duck Decoys)
Coming out of Liverpool last night, and driving along the M53/M56, I was reminded of how technology and industry can bring real beauty to the night. The chemical plants on the north side of the Mersey, a...
The night before lambing
Standing in the bank queue today, I overheard Gwenda the clerk say to one of the customers that her lambing starts tomorrow, i.e., the 15th of January. Like many Radnorshire women, Gwenda works to...
Twelfth Night is not Plough Monday
Tonight is Twelfth Night; the last night of the twelve days of Christmas, and the night before Epiphany . All the kids in Presteigne have gone back to school this morning; which is unfair,...
