Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 2 February – Candlemas

Welcome to chapter 2 of my serialised novel. You can find the first chapter here Anne-Marie has become totally absorbed in her new score. It’s an ambitious homage to Nithsdale: 12 inter-linked pieces, each representing a month in the year 2023. She’s given it a name: Calendarium. It’s being created  in ‘real time’, and scoredContinue reading “Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 2 February – Candlemas”

Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 1 January – Rising Water

She had finally said it. After months of trial by separation, the verdict had been reached. The marriage was over. Spending time together at Christmas for the sake of the children, or in some forlorn hope of reconciliation, had failed monumentally. It was no fun being around a distracted academic who throughout the holidays compulsivelyContinue reading “Epiphanies and Robberies Chapter 1 January – Rising Water”

Ageing and illness in a turbulent world

For nearly all of my 77 years on this earth, I have lived in the Dumfriesshire parish of Kirkmahoe. Not easy to find on a map, it’s a delightful place of rolling green pastures that slope down to the banks of the River Nith, just as it nears the end of its watery journey andContinue reading “Ageing and illness in a turbulent world”