A Man of Letters

Drying my hair this morning, I got to thinking about Patrick. Don’t ask me why. I met Patrick about 12 years ago when I was opening a restaurant in Portobello Road in London. It was about two days before our opening and as I was arguing with two electricians, the coke bitch that was the fiancée of the restaurant owner, a Brazilian kitchen porter who swore he was legally in this country after seeking asylum and that the photo of the different man on his passport was ok with immigration, the front door opened to show a grey haired, grey bearded … Continue reading A Man of Letters

Writer in Residence

We had all been sworn to secrecy in case we leaked it, but I can now announce the appointment of James Robertson as the first writer in residence for the MA Creative Writing course. As a class we knew that the post had been created but we did not know who the writer was until last week. I spent a happy few days pretending it was Stephen King, which is not to say that I am disappointed with Mr Robertson at all and I have moved his novel The Testament of Gideon Mack from its previous position to the number … Continue reading Writer in Residence

Postcards from an Existential Lady

I once knew a lady who ran a very successful private gentleman’s club.  It was terribly exclusive and the only advertising was a series of artful postcards displayed in selected telephone boxes around London. All other business was a result of very good word of mouth. The lady was among many, many things responsible for introducing me to Jean Paul Sartre. I had no idea what she was talking about then and Sartre remains at arm’s length from my periphery now, but in my defence it is quite difficult to discuss existentialism when one of you is wearing a bad wig and … Continue reading Postcards from an Existential Lady

Search Me

One of the things I love about WordPress is the blog stats especially the section that lets you see what search someone performed that resulted in them clicking through to your blog. When I was contracted to rewrite all the customer facing communication for a large financial company, the department I worked for had a regular ‘Brick of the Week’ award ceremony. It was a process of rewarding the most stupid person on record that week, and the prize was an actual size sponge brick. I don’t have prizes to hand out but from time to time I shall reveal … Continue reading Search Me