Last rites for a very special bird killer

It was a miserable deed but it had to be done. Yesterday morning, I dug a grave for my old feline friend. Fred was a ginger cat, one of a litter of eight adorable little bird-killers that we first met when they were only a few days old. We had booked a night in aContinue reading “Last rites for a very special bird killer”

Toxic Tea and the Magic Potion

The clever scientists don’t get enough praise. Between them, the boffins have concocted a magic potion that is even more extraordinary than the one that bubbled away in a cauldron stirred by Getafix the Druid. The one that helped a little corner of ancient Gaul fight off the Roman invasion by bestowing super-human strength onContinue reading “Toxic Tea and the Magic Potion”

How to Dispose of a Body

It arrived unceremoniously, lifted up and over the hedge with an articulated grabber arm that was operated from the driver’s cab of the flat-bed delivery lorry parked on the roadside. The engine roared at the strain. The loading platform of the vehicle rocked back and forth but on the second attempt the swinging load landedContinue reading “How to Dispose of a Body”

When Two’s a Crowd

I was on a weekend away in the Cotswolds with old school friends recently. A medieval sarcophagus was standing outside the porch entrance to an ancient abbey, lid off invitingly in the late afternoon sun. Normally I would exercise solemn respect and walk on by. But on that day none of us were on ourContinue reading “When Two’s a Crowd”

Muskets and Daggers

An old chum rang me this morning while I was out on a windy walk before work. I haven’t seen him for a couple of years and it was good to catch up. It was like old times. He was always hugely entertaining when we met up, holed up in a cozy pub over aContinue reading “Muskets and Daggers”

White Noise and Quilogy

I imagine that all writers share the need to get into the right frame of mind for fresh ideas to spark and for the words to flow. There seems to be so much noise out there with politics, lock-downs, security alerts and endless chatter from pundits and pollsters, that it can seem that there justContinue reading “White Noise and Quilogy”