The problem with witches - and I say this as someone deeply in their thrall - is that once you start looking for them, you see them everywhere. In a sharp-tongued woman at the checkout, in your aunt’s herb garden, in your dog’s knowing eyes. It begins as a curious fascination and ends with you … Continue reading “Laughter Contorts the Face and Makes Monkeys of Men”: Witch-Hunting for the Bewitched and Bewildered
Category: Writing
The Day That Betrayed Me
Birthdays and the Memory that Won’t Leave There’s a certain performance expected of you on your birthday. Even if you don’t care for cake or crowds, even if you prefer solitude to ceremony, there’s a social contract - unspoken but ironclad - that on this one day, you’re to be grateful. Festive. Present. Pleased. It … Continue reading The Day That Betrayed Me
Mastro Titta: Pope’s Little Helper with a Big Sword
Giovanni Battista Bugatti - what a name, eh? It sounds like the kind of bloke you’d expect to sell you a fine bottle of chianti or offer unsolicited advice about your olive oil. But no - our man Bugatti wasn’t swirling wine or chasing goats in the hills. He was the official executioner for the … Continue reading Mastro Titta: Pope’s Little Helper with a Big Sword
In Absentia: A Theology of Objects
I've touched on a similar theme in an earlier post, but as per my obsession with objects, I thought there's be no harm indulging again. There’s a sentence in Julian Barnes’ Metroland that hits with the sort of quiet, subcutaneous sting I’ve come to associate with him: Objects contain absent people. On the face of it, it's a throwaway … Continue reading In Absentia: A Theology of Objects
Grape vs Cherry: A Culinary Conundrum of Biblical Proportions
Just for fun.. Some decisions in life require gravitas. Signing treaties. Naming a child. Deciding whether or not to weep during The Snowman. And then - there’s the moment I find myself in far too often for someone who claims to be a rational adult - stood in my kitchen, dressing gown gaping, socks like … Continue reading Grape vs Cherry: A Culinary Conundrum of Biblical Proportions
Wording 