I’m staring out of my frosted kitchen window right now, gazing at the white-coated garden that has been rendered Siberian after last night’s heavy snowfall. And while drinking in the wintry scene, I’m remembering another freezing February day, all of four decades ago and a thousand miles away from where I am now, as I [...]
EMPTINESS The snow is falling and I am falling with it. Softly, silently it falls. No sound as the flakes touch land. Just a vast, empty winter’s landscape, inside and out. Enough is enough. Let there be oblivion: an end to the live sparks of human emotion. Just the snow out there, softly falling, carrying [...]
BEWARE - this is a cautionary tale for all vets, dog owners and dog lovers. I have a very good friend who lived in Krakow for many years. Let’s call her Anna. She loves animals and used to look after our previous dog, Floppy, whenever we went away on holiday. Now please believe me when [...]
Coming to the end of a good novel is rather like coming to the end of a good relationship. I suppose the main difference is that a good novel remains good right until the end, whereas a good relationship ...? Hmm. Logic says that it can’t be ‘good’ anymore by that stage, otherwise it wouldn’t [...]
This post is dedicated to my daughter, and to all others who are currently undergoing quarantine and self-isolation due to COVID-19. When she first spotted the message on her mobile, sent by the quarantine police (as she liked to call them) scarcely an hour after arriving back home in Kraków in the middle of the [...]
I should imagine that most of us at some point in our lives have woken up in bed with that horrible morning-after feeling. And I don’t mean a hangover. No, what I have in mind is that sudden whoosh of awareness, of unwanted memory after the final dregs of sleep have drifted into oblivion. That [...]
With the start of a new year, I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship with you. Yes, you, my once-beloved inner demon. You’ve given me some of the most euphoric moments in my life – hope, excitement, promises for a golden future; but time and time again you’ve fallen short of your promises. And [...]
