At the Town hall those golden/brassy pipes seem to stretch half way up to the roof, a giant set of pan pipes blown by electric bellows, a draft of air permanently pumped, the keys and bass pedals opening the mouths of the pipes to let them breath for a crotchet or a quaver or a [...]

Resting upright at the crest of the hill , surveying ploughed fields all round waiting to shoo away inquisitive birds looking for fresh seeds among the rich furrows. The earth freshly turned by slicing wheels pulled behind a chugging blue tractor, its exhaust note that rose and fell in a low gurgling pitch.  Soil turned [...]

Through the hourglass it filters, grains of our life slipping by in fine speckled moments, the pot boiling on the stove, our time cooking away, egg shells rattling and clanging on the teflon bottom of a pot, an electric element glowing orange hot, bubbles forming and bursting, like our dreams and ideals. Shoes off, walking [...]

Mrs White in the Library with the candlestick, that was my guess last time I played Cluedo. Formless bits of plastic that trot around a board at the beck and call of the dice. The rope, the dagger, the pistol and other implements all contributing to the mystery that needs to be unraveled, like the [...]

Chanting crowds compete singing club anthems across the pitch. The pitch, green, verdant, springy, the players are microdots on the turf, amplified to ten times life size on a giant screen. A shot at goal is met with a swooning, ohhhhh, as it flies over the top of the cross bar, the goalkeeper donned in [...]

Huffing puffing musical dragon with black and white teeth, polka, gypsy, Rue de Sein, French berets, romance,. Eifel Tower. France in the war. Edith Piaf singing like a canary.. Klesma, Cajun, Louisiana,  all sorts of French connections, the Benny Hill theme, English sit coms, The two Ronnies, “it’s good night from me and it’s goodnight [...]

Che Guvara T shirts adorn pre-revolutionary teen bodies, do they know the meaning? Rifles in the air, the crush of people in the square all one body, the shouts of triumph and off with the head of the dictator, Saddam’s statue being pulled down by an Abrahams tank, all in the air, revolution, revolution, people [...]

Deep green crusty uniform and a row of medals that look like teeth, a peeked cap sharp enough to slice bread, twinkling inquisitive knowing eyes. Polished parade ground shoes echo down a corridor of decision in the halls of power, the Pentagon, the White House.  Round table conferences about blowing up parts of the world [...]

You know you want the best, perfection in fact, happy dreamy ideals of how things should be have been balloons in your mind for an age and then reality bites. It might be a matter of money or the weather or circumstance, or people, whatever, but your carefully crafted facade begins to crumble and some [...]

The only thing I can think is that they’re easily twisted, and it’s amazing how we actually manage to stay upright on them. That process we’ve all been through, all seen in uncertain toddlers rearing up on two feet is a gargantuan achievement, maybe the eight wonder of the world. For once homo erectus is [...]