Toggle header
Life Writing
Tramp
“Once we’ve parted ways and I’ve set off around the fields, trying not to notice the stakes hammered in around the perimeters of both fields, I feel the jolt of reality. To walk here wouldn’t be possible for much longer – once the fence was up, it was up. It wouldn’t be coming down again. Each fence post suddenly feels like a line drawn in the sand.”
Three carols and a song
So this is ChristmasLike most of us, I navigate and feel comforted by the traditions that we wheel out at this time of year; the foods that we cook, the people we see, the stories we tell, the songs that we sing. And this year, …
Sandford Scenes – Autumn
Like most dog walkers, we regularly walk the same ways with Cooper. One of these is a there-and-back again which runs along the footpath alongside our garden through into Gorwyn’s Field, down past Furlongs and over Lower Creedy bridge, along Thornedges to the river. John …
Sounds of Silence
Sandford is a village in mid Devon. It lies 2 miles north of Crediton and 9 miles north west of Exeter and is one of a number of villages scattered along a sandy valley where the earth is red and ribboned by the river Creedy. …
All Change
It isn’t always possible to see that things are changing, it can happen so gradually that it’s hard to detect, or you’re so immersed in the moment that you don’t notice – and then you find that suddenly your hair covers your eyes, new lines …
To and Fro
LOCKING DOWNAs lockdown rumbles on, my fantasies begin to revolve around journeys. I roll the memory of driving into the grey January dank on the Saturday A303 around in my head; the cushion of the seat against the back of my legs, the low chatter …
Small Offerings
BeginningsThere was something in the way he raised his hand to thank the traffic as he crossed the road, open, confident, yet slightly apologetic. He was about seventeen, golden, a guitar case slung across his back. It was a few days before the lockdown. Days …