Gone Away
Dispatches from a life in America
270 posts
The Journey
The bus station in Lawton, Oklahoma, far too early, dawn painting the eastern sky and the streets empty, only the birds awake at this hour and asserting their territorial concerns. For the first time I notice how the…
Greyhound
You meet a better class of people on a Greyhound. Apart from the fact that the Greyhound bus is traditionally the way to see America, it also enforces a camaraderie that cannot happen on an airline flight. Being…
Home
Many years ago in England, I had occasion to visit my local pub with a friend named Richard. We had just sat down when Richard noticed someone he knew and called him over. They had not been talking long before I…
Dallas
The gap since my last post is explained by the fact that I've been away for a few days. Kathy and I went to McKinney, a town north of Dallas, although I think of it as part of Greater Dallas, since it's one of a string…
Brutus and the Bully
In all my previous posts about dogs, I have not mentioned the greatest Staffie of them all. Her name was Josie and she was the first of my own dogs; all of the others I have written about were my father's. One day I…
Science and Truth
One of the hot subjects of contention in America at the moment is the matter of evolution versus intelligent design. For those who haven't noticed, the Wikipedia entry defines intelligent design as follows: Intelligent…
The Third Gecko
I seem fated to do gecko posts. My first, entitled simply Gecko , was in praise of these close cousins to the chameleon. Then, in A Stray Fort or Two , I expounded upon my surprise but delight to discover in America a…
Homage to Way
I was looking through my files, searching for a possible blog post, when I came across an old letter to a friend. Buried within it there is a description of the weather in Zimbabwe followed by mention of a man called…
Don't Say the Word!
Every so often I find myself raising a voice of protest against the almost universal use of Microsoft Word. It is not that I could care less which word processor others use but I do get annoyed when people refer to it…
Factory Tales 3
A few days ago, I watched a re-run of the American Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show. No excuses; when I slump down in front of the television, I'll watch anything. But, on this occasion, I'm glad I happened to be…
A Stealthy Tale
With a steely eye, General Motus regarded the scientists hovering around him. "This better be good, guys," he said, "I'm missing an important meeting at the Pentagon to be here." "You're gonna love this, General," said…
Writing
Recently I've been coming across a lot of blogs reflecting on why writers write. The most common reason seems to be that we write because we like doing it but, thinking about this, I realize that it's not true for me. I…
A Leading Statement
Over at the Writers Blog Alliance , Deborah Woehr's Writers Blog Anthology is coming along nicely. There is still room for more entries, however, so if you're a writer and you have a blog, send your best post to…
Nick Park Lives!
Well, I did it. On the day the DVD was released, February 7th 2006, I bought my very own copy of Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit . Perhaps only fellow Englishmen will understand the compulsion to do…
A Blue Note
I don't do poetry. But, just to show that I'm unpredictable, here's a little something I wrote to annoy a poetry competition a while back (needless to say, it didn't win). It may mean nothing if you haven't heard the…
Publish And Be Craven!
Franz Kafka was not published during his lifetime. Well, that's not entirely true; a few of his short stories did achieve publication but were hardly noticed. Had his literary executor complied with Kafka's wishes, all…
Pines
(This is one of a series of articles I wrote dealing with memories of an African childhood. To read the first of these, click here ) I love pines and pine forests. In Zimbabwe they were all planted by man and the…
A Stray Fort or Two
They've got this gecko on the telly over ere an the fing wot I don't unnerstan is e's got a Lunnun accent, see, so e torks like this. Nah, not yer bleedin Cockney apples an pears ow's yer muvver Dick Van Dyke fing but…
Driving Time
Very early on in my American experience, I discovered that there is a language gap between the Brits and the Statesiders. And I don't mean the one most famously referred to by Winston Churchill when he called us two…
The Last Planet
"Hey, Joe, have you seen the latest job spec?" Lee twisted round painfully to watch as Joseph Harmon came forward and eased himself in stages into the engineer's seat. "Give me a break. I'm still stiff from cryo," said…