IT is one of those titles that says it all. Well, almost. The cover picture of menacing clouds hanging low over the French capital leaves little room for doubt about the content within. Everything is explained in five short words: A Long Night in Paris. And not one of gaiety and revelry such as those that have become synonymous with the city’s now largely false image as ‘Gay Paree’. Longer and darker by far. The cover illustration and title combine to imply good things are not about to happen. Questions are immediately implied for readers to ask and discover. Who,… Continue reading
CAN’T help thinking we have reached peak Osman. Urgent action is needed; metaphorically, it is time to paddle for the beach before being engulfed in the succession of tidal boomers heading our way. Nowhere will be safe. Hide under a rock if you wish, but that offers no guarantee of… 
WHAT is so damned special about fish and chips? The question has to be asked after again foolishly succumbing to the fiction that a chunk of lukewarm battered cod and a heap of pale limp would-be chips is the food of the gods. An endlessly desirable feast for a nation. 
CATCH-up time, trying to reduce the pile of recent reads that have provided a mixed bag of distraction, intrigue, twisting plot-lines and unreliable narrators. Two old favourites and one comparative newbie among a clutch of authors with an unfailing ability to grip and taunt with narratives that leave you guessing… 
TIME for reflection on this running life. For “reviewing the situation“, as the fiendish Fagin sang in the wonderful film version of Oliver, way back in the 1960s. A need to stop awhile and consider what lies ahead. Like a rambler who has tramped their way steadily to the top… 