Growing up, I wanted to be a lot of things. Writer, nurse, Mom and bus-driver topped my list, written when I was 6, in rainbow block crayon. I also wanted to be a lawyer, an artist specialising in Spin-art, and a country singer. So it was a long list, and vet was not on it. I am a people person from way back. I have always loved dogs. Big ones with bigger eyes. Shrill, yappy ones have never been…
My weekend begins on Friday, so we’ll start there. I woke up and asked Sarge to make me a coffee. I did so nicely. ‘Can’t (the PA) do it?’ ‘She doesn’t make coffee,’ I said. ‘She pours water into ugliness.’ ‘Fair enough’, he said, turning on the coffee machine. For the rest of the day I scribbled and read, scribbled some more and thought about organising my dresser-drawers. I opened them, and quickly shut them again. A story for another…
Wherein I get fresh air and new perspectives, remember promises and maybe change my mind. Edinburgh – Glasgow, holiday o’clock. Sarge turns on all the lights in our bedroom to make sure I am actually awake. We have cupcakes for breakfast. They are neither red nor velvet. I put on striped socks, a museum t-shirt and a Mom-made sweater. We take a taxi to the train station and get there with time to spare. This time I actually booked ramp…
Lorna loves to write. Her first short story, written on a yellow legal pad when she was six, starred a family of mice. The next year, she wrote a poem about black roses, which caused her teacher to request a meeting with her parents. Lorna has been trying to cheer the hell up ever since. She was a kid on a New York Island, and grew up in the Highlands of Scotland. While there, she couldn’t wait to get off…
Let’s say you forgot your phone somewhere. Left it on your desk at work/in your locker/in a field/dropped it down a toilet. This is what you might do while you waited to retrieve your phone, if you were in this purely hypothetical situation: Call it. Five times. To make sure it isn’t in the house. Curse silent-mode. Stare at your bag, where your phone should be. Lift the bag and call your phone again, to see if you…
