Fiction
A Right and Left – Part 1 of 2
James Bond dozed in the warm Jamaica sun. It was only April, and the baking heat of summer was still to come. He daydreamed happily of past exploits and beautiful girls. No doubt they were [more…]
Tachybaptus
Literature
Archaeological Limericks
Both English and, to a much greater extent, Scottish and Irish Gaelic are full of words spelt very differently from the way they are pronounced. These are ‘archaeological’ pronunciations reflecting the way the language [more…]
21st Century
Return to the Inferno
Set thirty years in the future As I reclined upon a heavenly cloud, Imbibing a celestial Chianti, I heard a voice crying my name aloud; ‘Twas Virgil in his toga, calling, ‘Dante, There’s work to [more…]
16th Century
The Troubled History of the Potato
The potato is a native of the high Andes, a low-growing plant (Solanum tuberosum) with pretty purple flowers and round black fruits. To survive in its harsh environment it has evolved the habit of growing [more…]
20th Century
Car Review: Renault Type AI Sport CT
It was after the third accident in the pony trap going down Pitsford Hill that my wife said to me, ‘We really ought to buy a motor car. After all, this is 1910 and we [more…]
19th Century
I never meant to write a novel
Today A Bear’s Diary is published as a hardback. It has been available as an ebook for a couple of months. It’s a shortish novel at 65,000 words, decorated with old engravings which give it [more…]
21st Century
Boris, how dare you?
Locking our people into subjugation, Ruining businesses throughout the nation, Stealing the future of a generation, Boris, how dare you? Carrie instructs him, he obeys with gladness, Plunging us into zero carbon madness, So we [more…]
21st Century
Fred and Doris
Doris said, ‘I heard on the BBC that us old folk are going to be confined to barracks because of that virus. They said it’s for our own safety,’ Doris was 83 and her husband [more…]
21st Century
Pandora’s Bug
How long ago it seems! But it is barely four years since I was a senior researcher at Porton Down, sitting on a shiny chair at a varnished desk and tapping the delicate keyboard of [more…]