Posts from the “Modern life” Category

Notes from a Serial Eavesdropper #1

Posted on February 3, 2023

2 February, Ajijic, Mexico. Waiting outside the Clinico Medico for my driver, Tomas, to arrive. I’ve named the dude with the blue bag, Bob. Bob: Have you been honest with her about who you are? I mean, she doesn’t know or think that you’re a multi-millionaire or anything? Lots of conversation from the other end. I’ll call it ‘Chatter’ Bob: OK. The thing of it is, they’re not any happier if you have lots of money. Chatter Uh huh. Ok. When does she arrive? Chatter So, you’ve got about 3 weeks and 3 days. How old are her kids? Chatter Well, that will certainly be a change of life pace. Chatter Well. Really? Now, remind me — you said that you do or you…

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Categories: Modern life

Do What You Want

Posted on February 3, 2023

What is it about me that attracts people who want to talk, especially when I do not? Now, don’t get me wrong – I can hold my own in a yak-fest. Put me in social situation in a room full of strangers and in 10 minutes, someone will be telling me their life story. Maybe that skill comes from being a consultant or an internal auditor and having to ask a lot of questions to get to what you need to know. Or working for the government for decades and having to answer the phone with “good morning, you’ve reached ABC department, this is x speaking, how may I help you?” But those were my choices. Last week, my orthopedic surgeon in Mexico looked…

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Categories: Argument, Modern life

Tagged: dressing rooms, politeness, swimming

Whither inspiration?

Posted on November 30, 2022

My writing energy is flagging. I sit at my desk, fingers poised over my keyboard, staring into the yard, waiting for a flash of inspiration. Working on draft number ??? of my second novel, The Fifth Man. The writing is starting to flow again and the plot jogs along well, but I’ve started using software called PLOTTR and what a shock that was to begin laying out the scenes and discovering there were some huge plot holes and missing action. So, it’s back to the drawing board. My forays down the rabbit hole of potential cover art are a distraction but they also keep me focused on what the basic themes are about. But here is the first chunk of Chapter one. It has…

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Categories: Modern life, writing

Tagged: #amwriting

A Poem for Remembrance Day

Posted on November 11, 2022

I’m not sure when my father wrote this poem, but my sense is, he penned it years after he left my mother with four children under the age of 13 and returned to England, where he had completed his basic training before embarking on a troop ship to fight his WWII battles in the stinking, fly-bitten sands of the Middle East. There was a woman there in England — I will not say her name — for when dad heeded her siren call again after a decade of absence, his desertion broke my mother’s heart and left us destitute in so many ways. We never lost touch, though, because my mother believed that blood would tell. As an adult, reintroduced to him in the…

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Categories: Modern life, Remembrances

It’s hump day!

Posted on October 5, 2022

It was a stunningly beautiful day – sunny and actually too hot to plant my tired bum on the deck box. Trying to get myself motivated to spend a few hours every day working on my second novel but it’s been weeks since I ‘retired’ (again) and I’m still not feeling the writing bug. I’ve been fiddling around trying to get sourdough started (again…still). After going through a bag of freshly milled organic flour, this is the last hurrah for my attempts. Part of the problem is that the inside of my kitchen is fairly cool – great when you’re rocking batches of cookies or roasting a chicken, but not so good for encouraging those little bacteria to multiply faster. I mean, cakes, quick…

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Categories: Modern life