Buy Me a Coffee As I sit here in my lounge, nursing a cup of tea that’s gone rather tepid – much like the jackdaw’s ill-fated bid for freedom in Aesop’s timeless fable – I can’t help but chuckle at the sheer absurdity of it all. You see, I’ve always had a soft spot for … Continue reading Strings Attached: A Jackdaw’s Lament and Other Human Follies
Tag: Life
A Very English Form of Possession – de la Mare’s, Seaton’s Aunt
I’ve always thought that the most frightening people don’t slam doors, rattle chains, or float about moaning like an amateur operatic chorus. They make the tea properly. They keep the house tidy. They speak softly. And they watch you. That’s why Seaton’s Aunt by Walter de la Mare unsettles me far more than any amount … Continue reading A Very English Form of Possession – de la Mare’s, Seaton’s Aunt
Not Bad: A Epitaph for Daisy Miller
In the end, they decided she was innocent — and that was all she was ever allowed to be. I’ve always felt that Daisy Miller is less a story about impropriety than about cowardice. Not Daisy’s — heaven forbid — but ours. Ours as readers, as observers, as members of those polite little tribunals that … Continue reading Not Bad: A Epitaph for Daisy Miller
The Smiling Corroder
Illustration inspired by Goethe’s Faust I’ve always preferred my devils civilised. Not the horned livestock of Sunday-school murals, nor the pantomime villain with a pitchfork and a contract written in sulphur. Those devils are easy to spot, which is why they’re mostly harmless. The devil that troubles me — the one who lingers — is … Continue reading The Smiling Corroder
Sunset Over the Pennines
There are evenings when the world seems to exhale — slowly, like an old scholar closing a book he’s read a thousand times and loved each time a little differently. Tonight, the sun slipped behind the Pennines with the poise of a fading monarch, leaving behind a trembling rim of gold as though reluctant to … Continue reading Sunset Over the Pennines
Wording 