I'd not intended to put pen to paper today, or should that font to virtual paper? However, as I've an hour to kill before the bus transporting me to Fuerteventura airport arrives, I thought I'd utilise the time productively... Well, if writing these unreliable essays can be classed as productive. GJ Strachan's last night in... Continue Reading →
Cheers Fuerte
Day 6 - With one full day remaining before I'm homeward bound, I sit and reflect on the hotel terrace while listening to the Atlantic Ocean surge relentlessly against Fuerteventura's volcanic coastline... Well, to be more accurate, with it's burning lava-like redness, augmented by suntan lotion glow, it is my forehead that's reflecting. Sadly, today's... Continue Reading →
What Was That You Said?!
Although hazy recollections, I'm pretty sure a few summers back I penned a narrative about an outdoor audio backdrop involving wood pigeons communicating with each other. An exchange not too dissimilar to listening to a bunch of old fishwives over a garden fence. As I recall I was fascinated at the time by the avian... Continue Reading →
Burn Baby Burn
Yours truly's lax suncream protection regime, along with complacent disregard of Canary Island solar ray strength, means GJ Strachan has arrived at his day four's dusk with a face as scarlet as an iPhone message emoji. I'd like to clarify at this juncture, though, anger is the very antithesis of my current emotional status. And,... Continue Reading →
Atlantic Views
The azure blue of the Atlantic Ocean provides a distant landscape to today's poolside prose penning. Fuerteventura pleasingly warm, although an accompanying zephyr from the sea tempers the warmth a degree or two. Apart from the pool bar beatbox the audio backdrop is predominantly the hushed tones of. chattering holidaymakers. Conversations conducted in a multitude... Continue Reading →
Winter Break
I arrived in the Canary Island of Fuerteventura yesterday afternoon for a weeks hiatus. The town, which'll be my home for seven nights, the southern borough of Jandia. Fuerte's premier resort rhyming with Randia. Footnote - Talking of Randia, as I'm here without my Ossett beau Sarah, that's a feeling I'll be avoiding for a... Continue Reading →
Tears & Fears of a Clown
For a variety of reasons my literary output has diminished of late; as a consequence of this tardiness my mental health has tumbled like a latter-day Humpty Dumpty. With the art of penmanship acting as my goto anti-depressant, it's proved a foolish self-care strategy if ever there was one! As a result, from today I've... Continue Reading →
Four Years On
Four years ago yesterday a life episode played out which, although shaking my being to the very core, became a positive catalyst for significant life changes on my part. Transformations which have enhanced my life immeasurably; subsequently, augmenting my self-worth and esteem. Let me point out this life event, the suffering of a heart attack,... Continue Reading →
Rosie Outlook
Last Wednesday on a chilled and misty North Yorkshire evening, four days before the birthday celebrated globally by millions, a baby girl was born to my son Jonathon and his wife Jenny,. The arrival's inaugural appearance providing the greatest possible Christmas gift to both parents and their respective broods. A euphoric episode catapulting GJ Strachan... Continue Reading →