Fishing in the Rivers of Life

Category: Rivers of Life

  • Hail to the Thief

    A Celebration of What, Exactly? Hail to the chief, mind you; hail to the thief would be more appropriate. Why on earth should we celebrate a man who plays such a pivotal role in misappropriating the truth? It’s a mystery to me. Yet, thousands cheer each daft, demented, damaging, and poisonous Executive Order – and…

  • Get a Dog, Know Your Neighbours

    The Sad State of Neighbourly Relationships Many years ago, I wrote a piece that included these sad statistics, saying that when surveyed, more than half of those asked said they wouldn’t ask their neighbours for help with anything. At the same time, 70 per cent admitted they didn’t even know their neighbours’ names, and only…

  • Ode to Chips

    I chose to believe,That when my time comes to leave,And must I depart this earthly realm,Those of us, so torn apart,With broken heartsThat bleed but never did mend,Will find it’s not the end,For nature will make amends,And we will be whole again.

  • The Wrong Arm of the Paw

    A Magic Chip to Solve It All? Remember when the government thought a tiny microchip would magically solve the issue of problem dogs overnight? Yeah, me too. If you weren’t a dog owner back in 2012, this might have passed you by. But when the then-environment minister, Lord Taylor, told the House of Lords that…

  • Ode To Jack

    Sadly,It is one of Mother Nature’s unending laws,Today, I’d argue,It is one of her cruellest flaws. It defies all logic,My dearest,Of all dear friends,When she decrees,All good things in life,Must come to an end. That includes you,Our little furry sun,The light in our life,You shone like a son. And even as we hope, beg,Or perhaps…

  • What a Load of Bullocks

    Hollywood Meets the Countryside Did you know that Quentin Tarantino and James Cameron are bringing Kenneth Grahame’s wonderful, if a bit naïve and idyllic, allegory of the class system in Edwardian Britain up-to-date with a ‘bang’? A Dark Twist on a Classic In Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, one of the main characters –…

  • The Secret of Eternal Youth Revealed

    The Foolishness of It All According to Abraham Lincoln, you can fool some of the people all of the time. I think he has a point, as right now I’m feeling pretty foolish, and judging by the assembled masses – since at first glance, there are thousands of us – I’m not alone in such…

  • Extending ULEZ is making criminals out of the leftie middle-class

    A Fish-and-Chip Shop Revolution Now, I only nipped in for cod and chips, but now my ears are getting a battering. And I don’t know about you, but whenever I consider hotbeds of sedition and anarchy, I picture Pancho Villa and dusty encampments in Mexican deserts; Che Guevara’s sweaty jungle camp in Bolivia, or Rick’s…

  • Dog Moves in Mysterious Ways

    The Ceremony Begins You never picture yourself at one of these ceremonies, but if you did, it would be like this. Cold, damp, and overcast. Perfect. As it should be. I always feel that the sun has no place here today; it feels too much like it’s trying to put the fun into funeral. I’d…

  • Quiche is no Coronation dish – a corgi could have chosen better

    A Feast of the Imagination Oops, I’ve let my imagination get the better of me. Deep in my subconscious mind, I’m desperately ravaging a Beef Wellington; my ever-sweet tooth eager to tuck into the final course of an imaginary feast and scoff the non-existent Peach Melba that doesn’t await me. Already, I’m regretting the invented…

  • Ode To Lucy

    The dog that was never meant to be,Left quite an impression,One, deep and everlasting,Imprinted upon me.,You were the one we never wanted,And now we can hardly bear to part,For in our loving process,You smashed and broke,This, such a heavy, heart. Bloody dog, I’ll say it again,So many tears, mostly, all in vain,Can I ever feel…

  • The Madness of King Trump

    By the time this is online, I will have no idea what latest nonsense has spilled from the lips of Donald Trump. All I do know is that it will be sheer and utter tripe—bilge water of the highest degree. Yet it will be deadly, such is his destructive stream of consciousness. Mad as a……

  • Boiling a Frog: The Rise of Social Media and Its Impact on Society

    The Growing Fear of Social Unrest and DivisionI used to think that it took a lot to scare me; I’m not talking about the anxiety that often afflicts me, but real fear—the kind I’m experiencing right now. It’s the same kind of shiver I felt on election night and the same as I feel now…

  • Forever England

    A Moment of Reflection in Aldershot Military Cemetery Standing solemnly in silent contemplation at the Aldershot Military Cemetery, soaking in the summer sunshine, eternity faces me carved in stone — a reality so far removed from the bravado of war or the romance of its poets that it jolts. The Weight of Memory on a…

  • I Was Going to Write a Brilliant Piece…

    I was going to write a piece — it was going to be brilliant — then I got distracted, and I forgot what I was going to write. The Drinking Problem You see, I’ve been drinking; it’s been a shit year, a shit week, and a shit day, one made all the worse by an…