Category: General

Sport

There is a part of the game of cricket that many foreigners don’t get, even people from other cricket mad countries. When I lived in America, Indians would try to taunt me about the latest defeat for England, but for me cricket always meant sitting in a deckchair at a village game, slightly disorientated from the alcohol and unable to get out of the chair except by slowly toppling over sideways and collapsing in a heap on the grass. Sometimes something would happen on the field and an uncertain applause would trickle around the edge of the green as the spectators tried to figure out what had transpired.
Continue reading “Sport”

Flash Fiction competition results

Well, I was hugely impressed with the wide range of imaginative and wonderful entries that you all came up with. We had gripping narrative, lyricism, crisp dialogue – and themes from the dark and the violent, to real life shenanigans abroad. I enjoyed every single one. In fact, the standard was so high that I couldn’t just settle for one winner; I went for an overall winner and two joint runners up as well.

Continue reading “Flash Fiction competition results”

Guy

I first met Guy in London . He was a friend of a friend. He loved parties, he drank, restaurants. We stormed around london in his car. Turned left at no left turns went 60 in 30 mph areas. Up one way streets the wrong way . I loved it. He was my idea of a Frenchman. Irreverant, small slim, smoking Gauloises , well dressed, living life at both ends. In those dreary days, no money , shabby flat, drizzling weather, train strikes, he was the shining light in my daily routine. A hope a gaity that I found nowhere else.

He left, back to France. His gay bachelor days were over. He married, and settled down lived near avenue Kleber in Paris.

I missed him, I’d go and live in Paris, why not. I hunted around for some jobs. What do they offer ? Little French, little education, little experience. Well we’ll just have to do this on BS. If all else fails tell the truth. I love your country, I love French people, I want to work and live here and I’ll do anything.

Continue reading “Guy”

Immigration?

The BNP, which advocates an immediate end to the “immigration flood” into Britain, lost all 12 of its seats on Barking & Dagenham Borough Council, with the Labour Party winning all 51 seats for the first time in the borough’s history. Council leader Liam Smith said the BNP “has no policy and plays on people’s fears,” while his own party ran a positive campaign, focusing on the council’s record in the area. Many pundits predicted the BNP could gain control of the council, as an influx of immigrants in recent years has caused resentment among the London suburb’s predominantly white, working-class population.

Curiously, although immigration was said to be one of the main issues in this election, why did the BNP fail to gain any support, locally or nationally?

Quote link