Travel
  • When I was a young kid, I guess I would have been around ten years old, I saw Peter O’Toole for the first time. Piercing blue eyes under a shock of angelic golden hair. He was clad in white robes and was involved in some extremely adventurous escapades in the...0October 15, 2012

    Wadi Rum

    When I was a young kid, I guess I would have been around ten years old, I saw Peter O’Toole for the first time. Piercing blue eyes under a shock of angelic golden hair. He was clad in white robes and was involved in some extremely adventurous escapades in the…

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  • “Twenty dollars for a carriage. Just twenty dollars. For the little one. For your daughter. It’s a long walk.” We have barely managed to pass the entrance gate before the onslaught begins. Our first impression of Petra, is a shoddy scramble for business. It will get worse than this as...0July 16, 2012

    Wandering in Petra

    “Twenty dollars for a carriage. Just twenty dollars. For the little one. For your daughter. It’s a long walk.” We have barely managed to pass the entrance gate before the onslaught begins. Our first impression of Petra, is a shoddy scramble for business. It will get worse than this as…

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  • Salt Encrusted Rocks Dead Sea Shoreline”/> It’s the nearness that astonishes me. Mythical names. Biblical names. Names that possess an otherworldliness that separates them from reality. And yet there they are now, right before my eyes as I survey the landscape. Jericho, Jerusalem. Across the Dead Sea, close, but just...0November 21, 2011

    Afloat On The Dead Sea

    Salt Encrusted Rocks Dead Sea Shoreline”/> It’s the nearness that astonishes me. Mythical names. Biblical names. Names that possess an otherworldliness that separates them from reality. And yet there they are now, right before my eyes as I survey the landscape. Jericho, Jerusalem. Across the Dead Sea, close, but just…

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  • I’ve seen many photographs of Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences and it’s always the beautiful compliment of architecture and engineering that strikes me. The two can often oppose one another, but this work had always seemed, from photographs at least, to have achieved a respectful balance, perhaps due to...0August 13, 2009

    Valencia City of Arts and Sciences

    I’ve seen many photographs of Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences and it’s always the beautiful compliment of architecture and engineering that strikes me. The two can often oppose one another, but this work had always seemed, from photographs at least, to have achieved a respectful balance, perhaps due to…

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  • Saerlig Store Elgfare. Very High Elk Risk. Heading out of Oslo, it was this roadsign that really made me aware of my surroundings. Of the strangely claustrophobic amount of empty space around me. Barely an hour out of the city and already we were moving through a landscape that was...0April 14, 2009

    Saerlig Store Elgfare

    Saerlig Store Elgfare. Very High Elk Risk. Heading out of Oslo, it was this roadsign that really made me aware of my surroundings. Of the strangely claustrophobic amount of empty space around me. Barely an hour out of the city and already we were moving through a landscape that was…

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  • In 1954, my father, then just fifteen years old, made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was, by all accounts, a life affirming trip, made all the more memorable by the monumental effort it had taken my father, and his friends from the local youth club, to raise the necessary funds....0August 25, 2008

    The Hopeless Unbeliever

    In 1954, my father, then just fifteen years old, made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was, by all accounts, a life affirming trip, made all the more memorable by the monumental effort it had taken my father, and his friends from the local youth club, to raise the necessary funds….

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Fiction
  • The day she finally did it, it was a Saturday and Sal and I were in town. I’d gone upstairs in the morning and brought her coffee, and asked if she wanted me to fetch anything for her. “No, I’m fine. Maybe I’ll head into town myself later. It looks...0March 31, 2010

    It Really Is A Beautiful Day

    The day she finally did it, it was a Saturday and Sal and I were in town. I’d gone upstairs in the morning and brought her coffee, and asked if she wanted me to fetch anything for her. “No, I’m fine. Maybe I’ll head into town myself later. It looks…

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  • The street is crowded. So many people they merge into a blur. Just a flow of shapes. Save for the boy. Small still. Only three, perhaps four. He’d be invisible among the mass if it weren’t for the balloon. A bright yellow thing, bobbing on a string. Trailing behind him...0January 28, 2010

    Small remembered moment

    The street is crowded. So many people they merge into a blur. Just a flow of shapes. Save for the boy. Small still. Only three, perhaps four. He’d be invisible among the mass if it weren’t for the balloon. A bright yellow thing, bobbing on a string. Trailing behind him…

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  • Sometimes she can still hear it. The rush of air that swept through the station that morning. Everyone blinked and took a step backwards as the train powered through. And as they blinked, he jumped. The train coming to halt five hundred meters up the line. Later, the driver explained...0October 15, 2009

    Monday Morning Seven Fifteen

    Sometimes she can still hear it. The rush of air that swept through the station that morning. Everyone blinked and took a step backwards as the train powered through. And as they blinked, he jumped. The train coming to halt five hundred meters up the line. Later, the driver explained…

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  • Lottie was my grandmother’s friend. As a child her name confused me. To my ear, Lottie was the sort of name you would give your favourite doll. A chirpy, foolish sort of name. Giggly and frivolous. So when I first met her, I was shocked to discover that Lottie was...0March 14, 2008

    Spoons

    Lottie was my grandmother’s friend. As a child her name confused me. To my ear, Lottie was the sort of name you would give your favourite doll. A chirpy, foolish sort of name. Giggly and frivolous. So when I first met her, I was shocked to discover that Lottie was…

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  • The tree stands on a mound at the top of the hill. From this vantage point it has views out across the fields and down towards the lonely row of houses that make up the village. Up there it’s possible to see everything. There’s nothing that goes unobserved. It’s form,...1April 23, 2007

    Short short story: “The Fairy Tree”

    The tree stands on a mound at the top of the hill. From this vantage point it has views out across the fields and down towards the lonely row of houses that make up the village. Up there it’s possible to see everything. There’s nothing that goes unobserved. It’s form,…

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  • It had taken four days to arrive, the snow. During that time, he could smell it coming. The air was different. Cleaner, clearer, more a texture than a smell. A prickle in his nose and throat that made him feel alert and slightly on edge. He would stand outside and...2April 17, 2007

    Short, short story: “Snowmen”

    It had taken four days to arrive, the snow. During that time, he could smell it coming. The air was different. Cleaner, clearer, more a texture than a smell. A prickle in his nose and throat that made him feel alert and slightly on edge. He would stand outside and…

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