As I’ve written some pretty joyless stuff this week I intend attempting to inject some humour into today’s offering. Although being currently bereft of a topic, start, middle and end, as yet I’m unsure in what way that whimsy will manifest itself. I’m determined, though, to redeem myself for prose that in the last few days has trebled Samaritans call volumes. Not to mention led to staff at Harry’s Noose […]
This morning, I was greeted at the breakfast table by the news my wife Karen was feeling under the weather. This malady another example of her bad days where her odious carcinogenic illness gains an upper hand; causing her return to bed for recuperation. Her energy drained as a consequence of her enduring physical battle with her medical nemesis, this return aimed at a re-invigorating boost by slumber, or the […]
“I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.” A trademark self-deprecating one-liner from late wall-eyed US comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Just one of a barrage of quips in his quick-fire standup act, interspersed with the woe-is-me catchphrase “I don’t get no respect!” Although he was only joking onstage “I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – […]
The first birthday without her beloved husband. Yet another milestone to endure; one more hurdle to be leapt as part of the lady’s grieving process. After 57 years marriage, prior to being widowed in October 2017, my mother’s anniversary of birth today will no doubt present her with a very different experience than normal. For the first time in six decades there’ll be no card from the hubby – A […]
Looking through my mum’s dining room windows outside an uncharacteristic, almost dream like, serenity plays out in front of me. Bereft of breeze and the usual noise from nearby house builders and coyote howl, it appears life in East Ardsley has been placed on pause. This scene instilling thoughts I’ve stepped into an art house film. A movie that’ll only appeal to a niche market, my character mute, the scenery […]
On Thursday, while queuing for what turned out to be a splendid ham and piccalilli sandwich, I noticed a sign hanging close to the shop entrance advertising a charity called Campaign Against Living in Misery (CALM). As I waited for my butty to be freshly made, I scanned further detail about this campaign/charity, of which I’d no previous exposure. From this rare piece of inquisitiveness, I learned CALM has been […]
Last night I dreamt all of the curtain poles in my house simultaneously detached themselves from the walls in every room. Consequently, chez Strachan witnessed an unexpected synchronised crashing to the ground of wood, metal and drapes….. Strangely even in the garage, where there weren’t any fitted! In this night vision, on witnessing this scene I lambasted myself for misguidedly utilising velcro to affix the poles. Something my wife Karen […]
