Travel as a Way of Life
I first posted this article in 2016, but it’s so useful for anyone who wants to go travelling that I’m re-posting it again now. In the interim, Darmon Richter has published a book that is well worth getting: Chernobyl: A …
Stephanie Wolfe Murray: elfin, beautiful, passionate, courageous
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography just published Timothy Neat’s lyrical description of Stephanie Wolfe Murray. This is a draft copy.
The publisher as minstrel. Elfin, beautiful, passionate, courageous, driven by a wish to serve – the life of Stephanie …
Skull
He leaned into me, blue eyes wide, face twitching.
‘My elbow’s fucked mate. I can barely open it further than this.’ An arm extended, palm facing up. ‘It’s from plasterin’ mate. Plasterin’ and wankin’.
His skin was blotchy and sagging. …
The Transylvanian Forest
The taxi wound through Transylvanian forest and dropped me in Brasov. I ducked through slim alleys into an underground restaurant. Over pickles, polenta and goulash, a couple described bears swaggering down streets, sniffing the air and picking any tit bits …
The train from York
A man in an anorak shuffles down the carriage. He sits heavily as if cut from a rope. A girl looks up, shifts and frowns into her book. He glances at her. His face looks shrunken, as though once bigger.…
Train Girl
The train is heading south and I stand between carriages. My hand rests on the open window and darkness rushes past. Trees are rigid against the moonlit sky. Smoky clouds are ghost like. A man on the floor gawps into …
