6,493 words

“Only act with Honourable Men: You can trust them and they you. Their honour is the best surety of their behaviour even in misunderstandings, (more…)

Graphic by Harold Arthur McNeill

1,633 words

“Hi guys!” said the waitress.

She was speaking to me and my mother. The restaurant was the Olive Garden, and it was in the mid-1990s. I felt affronted on two levels. First, it was far too informal a way to refer to patrons; unforgivably familiar, really. Second, I was not there with one of my “guy” friends at all. I was there with my grey-haired, sixty-something year-old mother. (more…)

1,753 words

In recent months, when I would think ruefully of the peculiar life I lead, I took some solace in the thought that soon my invitation to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding would arrive.

Alas it did not, and I am writing these words hours after the nuptials ended – apparently without a hitch (if we don’t count the fashion disaster that was Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York). (more…)

422 words

One of my preoccupations has been the chronically dysfunctional marriages and relationships viewers constantly found in American films and television series. Perhaps it is because it is more titillating for the audience, perhaps it is because that is what normal relationships look like for the folk who work in that industry, (more…)