Sudden Panic …

I am a primary school teacher. Occasionally when forced to “do grammar” we look at plurals and have a good laugh at the idea that the plural of sheep is sheep and not sheeps. Then I realise, there is a huge gap in my own knowledge regarding the plural of curlew … … and having…

Sensitive Flower

I am thin skinned … I have always known it. I take criticism badly. I see criticism inferred in situations where, possibly, it might not even really be there. From the time as a kid at Boothferry Road Primary School when we were graded in a year group of eighty children (being rated as twelfth…

Incoming …

Soooo very pleased to announce the inclusion of my poem Incoming in an anthology of poems and non-fiction (Curlew Calling) celebrating the curlew, other threatened wading birds and the landscapes they inhabit. All profits from the book will go directly to defending and stabilising the curlew breeding population in the UK. Amongst the other writers,…

Multiple Choice

I took the test again today. Turned on Radio Four. Listened to a story about the homeless. Then came kids orphaned by bomb blasts in another country. But that was too hard, so I moved on. Started up the car instead of doing the walking thing; it was raining and I needed stuff from the…