I suppose you could say I have lived a life. — Do you want a resume? Sure here you go: Education: Bachelor of Arts: Being the Artful Dodger in every school production. 1996–2007, The University of Essex, School of Council Estate Politics. Masters Degree: Drunken Rants, 2007-, The Hawley Arms. I digress. I find such listings of one’s achievements uncouth. I…

All must come to an end — My world, once like a tangerine, has fallen into several segments. I know I am undeserving of this, of all of this, and that is why I wake up with a smile. I wake up alone, but I’m smiling. …

Breaking the burden. — Acute sadness? Check. Derealisation? Check. Delerium Tremens? Check. It couldn’t get worse than being mad and sincerely believing that the world could not be this bad? So bad that it now, to me, seems completely unreal. As if I am walking in a Dickensian nightmare. It’s one lousy error of…

The Books of Shangri-La — If you told me last December that by the following December, I would have travelled extensively, was living in Berlin and worked for Daisy’s father, I would have replied, “Yes, that’s nice, dear.” I have written extensively about my life and have not been self-conscious this year. …

Books of Shangri-La — Forgive my silence; we’re battling Covid. We’ve fought twice before, a battle made easier by having three rounds of vaccinations. It has swept through our immediate and extended family like wildfire. I am left tired but not overly cold-like. I have no cough, sore throat, high temperature or loss of…

The Books of Shangri-La — It has been quiet around here. Once again, my hands bring in an income. I am renovating Daisy’s father’s apartment. His wife watches me closely; she is a conscious observer, conscious that I don’t steal the china. A few thousand euros will pay the rent for a few months. I…

The Books of Shangri-La — I am quiet. I know I am almost silent these days. I am in a constant state of convalescence; I am recovering from a formidable bout of the flu. I wake up with Salome’s arms wrapped around me, and sometimes I find myself fighting for breath; she doesn’t realise her…

The Books of Shangri-La — Another new era, in the dawn of another genesis. It is time to say Auf Wiedersehen until I see her again. …

The Books of Shangri-La — I wish I could live free from melodrama. Do we create the drama that surrounds our lives? Are we as responsible as the perpetrator? Those questions are irrelevant, for they are what they are, almost generally unanswerable. I ask myself essential questions each morning in the mirror pertinent to current…