If there was a biography about you, what would the title be? The title of my ‘Life’, as I prefer to call  my auto fictional biography, would start with my childhood of course, something I addressed in a blog on the year of my birth, 1954 (see the blog at this link). The rather sentimental print … More “Hidden in a book: A Life wrapped in dust covers”.

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you? I have blogged before using this quotation, actually from a Canadian poet, but used on the outer wall, and as an epigram, of the Scottish Houses of Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, as if they were the original words of Scottish author (poet, novelist and dramatist), … More ‘Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation’

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time? I can’t  even remember the last time I willingly sat in a pub with a friend or group of  other people and certainly can’t now remember why I found it a satisfying or pleasurable thing to do. As a boy, drinking … More Goodbye intoxicated outings.

The most important invention in your lifetime is… The term invention has an interesting etymology, for the idea of merely ‘coming upon’ or even ‘discovering’ (taking a cover from something previously hidden under that cover) is a relatively passive idea compared to the concept of ‘creation’, although in practice it involves activity of an equal … More Try this for ‘significant invention’! LOL. The decay of the idea of ‘invention’ and making space in the cosmos for the  creative life-forces may be all that matters.

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end. Night sweats the body until it awakes, unsure whether the flakes of skin it makes are signs or symptoms of some eternal loss, or something even more infernal. Consciousness follows on, and then some light Registers at eyes locked in sleep till tight with gunge, as, … More A bad start to my perfect day!

How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life? I feel I need to get this prompt out of the way, for it poses as a question whilst being, in my view, at least, nothing of the sort. However, I do not say that believing that there are no … More “… all things pass and nothing stays, and comparing existing things to the flow of a river, he says you could not step twice into the same river”. Hence: ….

Write about your first computer. I think the Amstrad pictured above, here operating as a word processor,is how I remember my first computer, which I bought in the 1980s after getting my first full-time permanent job as a Lecturer in English at the Roehampton Institute in London. Amstrads were neither original nor particularly good but … More Imagine a world without Windows … and software a language not a set of icons.!