The unsoundness of silence

"Grocer” is one of those words which anchor me to my toddlerhood. We didn’t go the local Co-op, preferring instead the modern version of William the Conqueror's fine old word "Grosser" - “the Grocer’s”, (what the medieval English called a "spicer" and today's French, nicely full circle, "épicier". But I wander..). This was a place …

The New Babylon

I pulled up and parked round the corner from home as per. Switched off the engine. And fell into an unexpected fugue of gloom. I sat and thousand-yard stared through the windscreen. I thought – this country has some very beautiful scenery. Then - most of the people I meet and of those I never …