Piper Alpha. I remember this night in 1988, unusually warm and the eve of my graduation. In Aberdeen a jacketless evening feels like a holiday. But then, outside the restaurant there was a weight, a prickle-neck darkness that didn’t vanish under streetlights. “There’s something wrong here,” I said. “Don’t be daft,” they dismissed. But there […]
Indyref again
For me, it isn’t about whether Scotland is better off independent. The haze on a blue-grey day where mountains meet water will still catch my heart. Heather will still be purple in late summer, and men will still pretend to know more than they do about whisky. And that’s just fine. What fills me with […]
Nature’s Day – 100 words
Contrary – 100 words
Contrary. Sunshine springtime, how glorious. This evening I’ll unspool the hose and twizzle its nozzle to drench rockery, fretful sproutlings, seeds, wildflower experiment, weary pot-dwellers. Hardly worth winding it back, this dry spell persists. Meanwhile: must kill the weeds. Mixing poison, pumping handle bites my palms and trigger finger spray, fatal drizzle for audacious opportunists. […]
Swallows – 100 words
Swallows. The pause year, when this was building site, they spat mud bricks under timber eaves and peacefully shat down unfinished walls. I moved in when they went to Africa – a cuckoo. In spring bird brains programmed to return. And return. Thwarted by slippery cladding: returned unnested, they found another perfect niche. A niche […]