And in other news…

TS Eliot said that April is the cruellest month, but this January might be the longest of months, in this the darkest winter of our soul. I pray for the optimism of April, the new growth and we’ll emerge blinking into the light, cowed and ready for regenerating the broken bones of our society. I

Merry Christmas! from Queenbot and the Brexit islanders

Someone told me that Athens is the place where your usual coping strategies reach their limits, and I don’t know if that’s true but 2020 might have been the year that our dreams withered away in the face of sheer chaos. Lulu Miller writes in her book Why Fish Don’t Exist that chaos inevitably makes

lessons learned from a life less travelled in lockdown Bristol

It’s over. It’s not over. i left Bristol last week and i cried when i said goodbye to my housemate and the dog in anticipation of the separation anxiety that will ensue without the latter bounding into my room every morning to lick my face. After seven long months of lockdown and the aftermath in

the smouldering ruins of racial capitalism

One Friday night in May I watched as a fire engine pulled up to Turbo Island to deal with the embers of a bonfire for the drinkers and I stopped to take a picture, noticing afterwards the fire fighter leaning out of the window smirking at me. Then I headed off up to Gloucester Road.

Eid mubarak

The Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska said that writing is the revenge of a mortal hand and today is Friday 22nd May and I don’t know what day of the lockdown it is but the lockdown seems like it’s bled out into a hazy grey area where we’re encouraged to get back to work but not

between a far right future and 80s dreams of dystopia

It’s Friday 1st May and Bristol’s looking amazing in the last hours of sunshine. I’m all over south Bristol tonight bringing kebabs and pizza to the heartland masses. I’ve been finding enjoyment in the road names this week. On Wednesday when i was doing the shopping for E in Staple Hill I went down Shrubbery

Leaving April behind and listening to news of eels

It’s Wednesday 29th April and anyone that didn’t already know it already can see that Brexit island is drifting slowly into obscurity that’s now become a tragedy we might not know the full weight of yet. I catch up on the news today and I watch the German news on DW because it’s sober and

love and trees in the time of corona

I cycle the length of the feeder to St Annes and drop off the lasagne and I remember when my friend went bridge swinging on New Years Eve once with climbing friends and they calculated the ropes wrong and she dropped straight in the feeder. The feeder canal runs from Netham Lock in East Bristol

Shooting stars over East street and craft kit handouts

It’s Thursday 16th April and the lockdown has been extended for a further three weeks. It’s day 23 or something like that of the lockdown in Bristol and I’m trying to navigate the new reality on my bicycle, one pizza delivery at a time. I follow a little girl in a tiger onesie across Prince

Happy Easter! and other unnecessary greetings

It’s Saturday 11th April 2020 and I’m waiting outside a restaurant in Clifton and he says to me ‘excuse me, do you want to go for a coffee with me some time?’ He’s another Deliveroo rider and he’s wearing lycra. I panic briefly and unwanted attention from men wasn’t something I’ve been preparing for in