My first job in retail — When you’re in a strange country and need a job, a reality check dictates that you can’t afford to be too fussy about what it is. That was the situation I found myself in back in 1966 when I emigrated to Sydney, Australia. Was I expecting potential employers to be…

Was this art imitating life? — I considered myself fortunate to have made it to Florence before Covid devastated the tourist industry everywhere. Saying as much to Mo, he’d looked at me and said, “We must have gone to different places.” “Don’t you remember the architecture, the beautiful art, the churches?” “I remember the crowds, the…

What if revenge isn’t as sweet as you thought it would be, and friendship’s even sweeter? — Mum swore on my grandmother’s grave that she’d never come and see me fight — and she stuck to it. I never blamed her, though I was disappointed. What kind of mother wants to see her little boy bloodied and beaten? …

I survived to tell the story — Last month a lady who lives at the end of our street stopped me to introduce herself. I suspect that the lady, Margo Ellis, was either lonely or bored. …

And he learns how to play — It was Jean-Luke’s day off and sitting on his lounge with his customary first espresso, he looked around him. It had never happened before, but the thought came to him that his life, outside his work, was dull. It was as lacklustre as the magnolia-coloured walls of his apartment. He’d…

Or are they just the latest influencers? — I don’t know about anyone else, but I have heard enough about Harry and Megan. I’ve nothing personal against them, I don’t dislike them, but I don’t want to hear about their daily comings and goings. Am I wrong in thinking that they’re unimportant in the scheme of things? We…

Sometimes crazy is good — I sat in the car for a time, delaying the inevitable moment I’d swap my car’s warmth for the biting cold outside. Winter had arrived with a vengeance bringing a light dusting of snow, but worst of all, it wrapped me in its icy tentacles, so I was permanently cold. …

What’s happened to my body? — In those photos you see the body you used to have and can’t help it — you’ll want to be like that again. Of course, we all know that those days are long gone, and no matter how hard we try, it’s not going to happen. What really pisses me…