It’s Wednesday morning and I’ve just returned home after transporting two family members to Leeds Railway Station. This convivial twenty minute sojourn by car undertaken to a backdrop of tunes from the musicals on Apple Music; anthems predominantly taken from the movies La La Land and The Greatest Showman. Award winning contemporary musical refrains from the prodigious pen and creatively fertile minds of American songwriting duo Pasek and Paul. Exposure […]
Today marks the second anniversary of my dad’s passing. Twenty four months during which I learned for the first time in half century on this screwed up planet what loss truly meant. A valuable lesson formed from consequential emotions evoked at the realisation I’d never again being able to share the company of a dearly loved family member. This two years enlightening me that deprivation of anything other than a […]
The narrative penned earlier this morning was the 1600th I’ve written since embarking on this literary journey in March 2015. An odyssey which was the catalyst to dragging me from the metaphorical ditch where at that juncture of my life I’d lain for many months stricken with depression. Although my penmanship was/is unable to resolve many of the elements of my life that weighed heavily then (and remain now), this self-help […]
Yesterday, despite commencing a literary piece, I didn’t publish a narrative on my website writesaidfred.org. Eventually giving up on the offering in the early evening after penning around 300 words of prose. This rare loss of interest in completing an essay not through a lack of notions on my part; moreover the consequence of finding the subject I’d chosen (the current UK political climate) as too emotionally exhausting. I’ve covered […]
The other day I inadvertently, but gratifyingly, came across an emotive Gregory Porter cover of the song It’s Probably Me, originally brought to audiences attention on Sting’s 1992 album Ten Summoner’ Tales. Porter’s version of a refrain performed live in front of an audience including the former the Police frontman, during 2017’s Polar Music Prize Ceremony. Written by a trinity of rock royalty, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen and Gordon Sumner […]
What I witnessed yesterday was utterly unmistakeable. Printed handwriting of draughtsman like quality I’d seen on innumerable occasions during the half century of my existence. This chance sight that of my late father’s forensically neat scription. Words transposed onto an old DVD player case by ultraviolet indelible marker, the catalyst to manifestations of a whole spectrum of emotions and questions. One of the queries being why, after 20 years of […]
Today’s narrative is the 1,500th I’ve written since embarking on this literary odyssey in March 2015. The spring day I setup my website writesaidfred.org, leading me on a locutionary path of cathartic reflection, self-esteem reconstruction and acquiring awareness I’d completely undersold my capabilities for almost half a century. I’m angry with myself for the decades of propitiation, particularly to people who weren’t worthy of the reverence shown. However, I’ll live […]
