The Fairytale Teller
We got off the train in Matsue and winter was waiting for us. Not the fun winter of snow, steamy breath on the still air and mass conviviality. No, this is not a Hollywood winter – this is the brutal winter of the real world, and it has not come to play. Instead, it brings ...
Five, Seven, Five
My home town of Ayr isn’t known for much, although, over the years, we’ve had one or two famous denizens. The bloke who invented tarmac, for one; a tan-and-white cow for another. By far and away the most famous, though, is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Ring any bells? Maybe not, but if nothing else, ...
A Little Prince, Weird Eggs and a Journey to Another World
The Little Prince (or Le Petit Prince, to give him his original, French name) gets around a bit. He’s the star of what people say is a children’s book, but, like the greatest stories, it’s not exclusively for younger readers. Katy didn’t meet the little wanderer until she was well into her teens. The moment ...
A Blessing And A Verse
Because of a defective part of my brain, and because studying English literature largely removes the fun from reading, I don’t like poetry. That’s a pretty sweeping statement, and of course not true in every case, but for the most part it just doesn’t grab me. I don’t see poetry as more layered than, say, ...