I'm a shy, insular sort of person, easily affected emotionally. I love a good blub at the movies if the ending warrants it. Some music also does it for me ('Dido's Lament' at anyone's funeral). I'm a committed pacifist and environmentalist and worry constantly about global warming and think that the nay-sayers are nuts. I grew tired of urban living over 20 years ago, seeking refuge in this quaint English rural backwater called The Welsh Marches. Pursuits and pastimes: walking, cooking, photography, foreign travel. Joining Lush has been the best thing I've done in years. I've had some wild times, both in the Lush Rooms and via private chats. My musical heroes are Bob Dylan and Keith Jarrett; and my favourite deceased hero is the English comedian Peter Cook, with the Pythons running him a close second. I quit full-time journalism some years ago, but still love writing. I have had three novels published and am working hard on a fourth, which is set in my beloved Cuba. J.B. Morton (aka 'Beachcomber') was the funniest writer who ever lived, and the court transcripts of the trials of The Red-Beared Dwarfs are the best of his work. Favourite film stars? Kim Novak (natch!) and the incomparably-beautiful French actress Bulle Ogier. If I had the nerve to go to a fancy dress party dragged up, I would most certainly go as Bulle Ogier, wearing a copy of the Karl Lagerfeld costume she makes her entrance in as the cruel dominatrix in the BDSM classic 'La Maitresse'. I've now chalked up 80 Lush stories. My favourite? Probably 'Night Sleeper to Madrid', because the woman ticket inspector turns out to be extremely naughty and I've always adored being led astray by wanton women.
Favorite Books 'Parade's End'; 'High Fidelity'; 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'; 'Chronicle of a Death Foretold'; 'Love in the Time of Cholera'; 'Longitude'; 'The Ginger Man'; 'The Bumper Beachcomber'; 'Scoop'; 'The Kandy-Coloured Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby'; 'Tragically I Was an Only Twin' (Peter Cook biog); and 'The Little Prince' by Antoine De Saint-Exupery.
Favorite Authors Dickens, Hemingway, Highsmith, Zafon. The final scenes in Bernard Shaw's 'St Joan' frequently moves me to tears - and also make me ashamed to be an Englishman.
Favorite Movies 'Bell, Book and Candle'; 'Vertigo'; 'Blade Runner' (both versions); 'The Third Man'; 'Robin Hood' (Errol Flynn version); A Matter of Life and Death'; 'Some Like It Hot'; 'Paris, Texas'; 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?'; 'Snow White'; 'Polar Express'; 'The Last Waltz'; 'Closely Observed Trains'; 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (Gene Wilder version); 'Carol'; 'A Fantastic Woman'.
Favorite Music Koln Concert (Keith Jarrett); EST (Esbjorn Svensson Trio); 'All Things Must Pass' (George Harrison); The Travelling Wilburys; Eddie Condon's live jam session 'Ole Miss' (jazz music's anarchist sans pareil); 'Old Ideas' (Leonard Cohen); 'Highway 61 Revisited' (Bob Dylan); Benny Goodman's 'Jazz at Carnegie Hall'; 'Different Trains' (Steve Reich); 'Django' (MJQ); Buena Vista Social Club; Joni Mitchell; K D Lang; and 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free' (Nina Simone), which I've asked to be played at the end of my funeral service.
“You’re not getting any younger you know, Nick.” My know-all older sister’s weekly ‘sermon’ about my health and mobility was bang on cue. “Can you still make it to the corner shop?” “Only on my electric mobility aid.” “So how d’you go on for groceries?” “I either get them delivered or Pi brings them in on Tuesdays.” “Who or what is Pi?” “My Thai carer.” “Male or female?” “Female. And quite a looker.” “I see. And how old –...
“Got anything planned for today?” my mother enquired as she brought me my morning tea. “I expect I’ll go down to the skate board park later with some of the lads.” “Be an angel and drop our edge trimmer round to Marion’s, would you sweetie? She rang earlier and wants to tidy up her lawn.” “Sure.” Marion was Mum’s oldest friend. They went back to college days. Now she was married to Albert, a rotund, cigar-smoking bore who...
I had been told that you can often meet interesting people on adult education literary courses. The seeds of my son-in-law’s divorce were sown at an Open University Summer School. But that’s another story. After an extensive trawl of the net, I’d found a week-long course on short story writing. The good news was that there were still vacancies and that it was located on the gloriously scenic Gower Peninsular. The bad news...
