Gary Strachan – "Write" Said Fred
Whimsical observations from deep within an erratic mind
“Thanks for what you’re doing.” Five shorts words (six if you count you’re as you are) that a supermarket customer felt compelled to convey to me yesterday. A short sentence of appreciation bestowed while donating to the cancer care charity I was stood collecting for. It wasn't the most eloquent sentence I'd ever been... Continue Reading →
“This is my life and this is how it reads For every chapter, a thousand memories A murder, a mystery where everybody bleeds A fantasy, a thriller with romance and disease” So wrote Paul Heaton when he eased us into the 1990 Beautiful South song My Book. It was an opening verse teasing us,... Continue Reading →
It was a dark unforgiving Lancastrian afternoon. In a scene not too dissimilar to Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson's farewell in the 1945 movie Brief Encounter, an enamoured couple stood on the platform at Manchester Piccadilly railway station. In a matter of minutes the train would leave to distant parts. Tears welled in their ever... Continue Reading →
I’ve just spent two hours dressed in a yellow tabard, wearing a huge daffodil on my head and with a box around my neck containing daffodil lapel pins. To clarify, when I say I had a huge daff on my head I mean a hat in that design, not that I have a yellow flower... Continue Reading →
I don't recollect much of biblical studies in Religious Education lessons from my schooldays. That being said, I can vaguely recall the part of the Gospel of Matthew in which he describes Jesus fasting in the desert. During Christ's abstinence from food, Matthew conveys the devil endeavoured to tempt him to turn stone into bread... Continue Reading →
The changeability of the great British weather was perfectly highlighted today, when at 11am in Leeds heavy snow started falling; only for three hours later there to be sunshine and predominantly clear paths and roads. As I write, throughout our metropolis there will be thousands of fed up kids currently on their trek home from... Continue Reading →
Karen has endured another week of hospital visits. She had her consultation with her oncologist on Monday, undertakes her four weekly treatment today and undergoes a physio session tomorrow. Sat in the waiting room, my fatigue levels are heightened following another inadequate nights sleep. I'd woken early from a dream and couldn't get back to... Continue Reading →
“How did that gobshite get on the TV?” is probably a question most people have uttered about someone or other while getting their daily fix of the goggle box. On the occasion it was uttered by a normally incomprehensible whisky soaked priest from his well-worn armchair, the target of the addled old man’s barbed question was... Continue Reading →
On a couple of occasions recently I've had very pleasant lunches out, courtesy of two different Christmas gifts. On Friday, my wife Karen and I had a two course lunch with drinks at a Country House hotel in the Vale of York, courtesy of my sister Helen. While yesterday Karen, my parents and I had... Continue Reading →