clinging to the wreckage

  A sunset walk, a book, the lake, the silver light shimmering on the water as the sinks under a blanket of night and leaves us until tomorrow. People are calm and smiling, saying hello, and I feel grateful because the book that I am reading is disturbing. It is Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng, and it is essential for us to know because so many were or are unaware of the suffering that minorities feel at the hands of a ‘patriotic’ mass at times. The book takes place in an imaginary post-crisis dystopia, but it is remarkably similar to the events that occurred during covid, whereby a government trying to ramp up anti-immigrant war fever kept repeating ‘China’ and blaming them for everything from the virus to the economic downturn of the US economy. It resulted in a wave of anger, hatred, and attacks against the Asian community. Hateful leadership leading hateful people to do hateful things.   Finally, I go to bed and fall into a sleep of dreams. In one of those dreams, I was ...

  Part I   My fear, as the week hurtles towards an end, is that we may see some really desperate attempt to create a dramatic global event from the leader losing health, losing power, losing credibility, losing legally, losing romantically. So, we drift in some form of hope, some form of fear, of doubt, of concern. Some people think they will receive money if they vote a certain way. Some people are simply terrified of betraying the father figure. The rising number of people who simply want common decency, the rising number of educated people in critical areas, give me hope. But that hope is a sceptical hope when I know that it goes up against the money of insane billionaires and the corruption of lost leaders with nothing to lose.     Part II                   As a European, I always heard stories like ‘Americans know nothing outside of America.’ As a European who is now also an Ame...

  Another horrific train crash near Madrid, the high-speed trains I have taken so many times, and I think of the horror of the loss for those families impacted. I think of the extremely excited children I’d see onboard, fascinated by the train and the adventure. It’s almost too much to bear.                      We go through our days troubled by tiny matters like a conversation that went badly at work, a sports teams losing, a friend getting upset, someone making a decision to distance themselves from us… then there is the cold harsh reality of 64 people losing their lives instantly in a crash of this magnitude, not to mentioned those who will be injured, disfigured, disabled forever.                     During my years living in Madrid I was always amazed by how loving and peaceful the people were. So, tonight, saddened, I drif...

  It is a shame that they do not read, they do not research. They don’t understand that being taught or told lies about the past, about the bad things that a country has done, doesn’t make one unpatriotic, it makes us more aware of our mistakes and, hopefully, able to avoid them. The British Empire’s activities are not taught as glorious, and books written by global writers capture tales from different colonies. If those books were all removed, along with history books and teachings, and suddenly we were told only that Great Britain’s history was magnificent, it would be a tragedy. Likewise, Germany’s history and, in particular, the events around World War II. Sadly, we see it in real time where people are upset at the suggestion that going to war is not a show of strength and power, and that it is a catastrophic event resulting in the loss of lives, dignity, respect, and long-term hopes of peace. Doing horrific things at the border to innocent people merely searching for hope for ...

 The  day in Frisco to watch FC Dallas was fantastic. Overall, it gave me a feeling of warmth, even love, for people. I arrived at 3pm to check in to my hotel and explore the area for a while before the game. My goal was to have a few drinks and dinner before going to the stadium.                     Setting off from the hotel I walked towards a British pub called The Derbyshire, walking around the stadium on the way. The stadium was starting to fill with staff, some of whom were already preparing things for the evening’s event. The weather being beautiful, my spirits being high, I waved and said hello to everyone I passed. I crossed the road and discovered a little Halloween market and festival where families were playing games and enjoying various rides and activities dressed in costumes. Around the corner I found The Derbyshire, in a very West London looking building. I stopped outside...

  Words at play on a page have always been my paint on a blank white canvas. Words paint pain… and pleasure, but even the pleasure is often born of pain. Afterall, when it comes to art or literature, one of the facets that fascinates me the most is the context… the life and mind of the artist as well as their environment. My context is that, beyond words, I am not comfortable with much. For instance, when people ask me to take care of a baby animal, I get nervous these days. If someone asks me to work with physical equipment, I feel uncertain, only comfortable in solitude, writing or reading.                     06:30am and I tune to the soccer match of my hometown team, Wigan Athletic. Today they are playing away in Huddersfield. I remember, many years ago, when I was married and my mother was alive, I drove from Wigan to Huddersfield with my mother and wife in the car. I dropped them both at...