Pigeon Coup
By Natalie Fraser. Annie said they were bloody vermin, she said they should all be shot. ‘What’s that square in Venice that’s covered in pigeon shit? Can’t remember now but you ask them how they like pigeons, rats of the … Continued
The English Teacher
By Karen Lamb. Love of English drew him to teach, though not at all temperamentally suited to the classroom. With hair and beard streaming behind him, and a hapless colleague in his improvised sidecar, he tore into the car park … Continued
Tall enough at last
By Karen Lamb. We are the only ones there, all the other kids at school and their parents at work. ‘Can I have a go this time?’ So keen now that he has seen me, his dad and his uncle … Continued
Peanut Butter Sandwiches
By Karen Lamb. Why is this naughty girl paying me attention? I am one of the quiet ones, but I love the way she doesn’t seem to care – she’s noisy when the teacher says be quiet! And I really … Continued
The St George Lothario
By Kevin Drum. There wasn’t a publican or club manager who didn’t acknowledge him by name. Then there were the nodding acquaintances, train station attendants and guards, bus drivers, hairdressers, snooker hall managers, and taxi drivers. All were vital threads … Continued
Big Man in Blue
By Michael Cains. I don’t think much about my grandfather these days. He died many years ago back in England, to where I have never returned. I remember him as a big man, with a big influence over his four … Continued
A Creature of the Deep
By Adrian Brookes. I have a toddler’s memory of my dad’s childhood home and the horror it inspired in me. Len Brookes grew up in a ‘yard’ in Balsall Heath, an oft-maligned inner-city suburb of Birmingham. Built in Napoleonic-war days, … Continued
from Yearning for the sea
By Kerstin Lindros I dreamt of waves. I wasn’t greedy—I’m talking waves of moderate proportions, wavelets, a gentle swell, like the rippled old carpet in the hall, and thin but determined sheets of water, expanding over an ever-growing dark band … Continued