140 posts
Laurence Rivers’ New Neighbour
I bit my lip and concentrated as hard as I could at the grainy image on the TV screen. The brief vignette of femme désnudé from the 11 o’clock freeview on the tarot channel. Trying hard to neither concentrate on the phone number nor the colloquially lewd offers at the side of the tiny image, I worked my wrist into overdrive and finally came, it had taken over twenty minutes, fuck sake.
The Sunday Historian
For ten hours on a few Sundays I had the chance to sit and talk with Louis Tindle Dees. I normally found him enthralled in a thick book about Winston Churchill, watching the latest news, or working an intricate puzzle with pieces too numerous for me to even attempt at age 29. He had just turned 92 years old.
A Happy Ending
The affair happened more than ten years ago. We worked together on a project with four other colleagues. She was married and had two small children. During the holidays, she texted me several times saying that she was thinking about me. The first two or three messages, I ignored. I erased them. I seriously thought she was a no-go. The fourth time, I wrote back: “You’re married.” I thought that would end it….
Love in the West Midlands
From 90s suburban Coventry, Holly Watson recalls stories from her childhood. This time she looks at a relationship between her Aunty Mandy and her husband SImon, a man so boring as to drive you to tears.
The Impossibility of Buying Light Bulbs
It used to be a very simple task to purchase a light bulb. Check the wattage on the dead bulb at home, go to the store and pick a similar one from the display shelf, take it home, remove the burned-out bulb from its socket, replace it with the new one, wrap the old bulb in some newspaper, and toss it in the trash.
Having sex in a swimming pool
Unprotected sex, booze, a swimming pool and and forthright businesswomen all face Laurence in a down-at-the-heel Mexican hotel.
Vegan food fair
One of the stringent facets of Mexican life surrounds the imbibing of the local tap water. I’m sure it’s bad for you or something, but on a base level it…
Q&A with a Popular Tinder Blogger
We hear from the author of ‘My Tindertainment’ a popular online tinder blog detailing one girl’s sexual encounters in the tinderverse.
Welcome To The United States
The security man gives a mean, hawking cough and raises his hand over the glass to wave through the next victim. I mutter my thanks, grab my visa and scurry away. Welcome to the United States, you youthful, naïve ignoramus.
Tiki’s Surf Station
Laurence ends up in a surf town on the Pacific coast of Mexico where he quickly realises that he is not very cool. That, plus surfers are full of shit.
Beaver Eating at Burning Man
The words “Great Canadian Beaver-Eating Contest” caught my eye. In another environment, this would have been too good to be true, but at Burning Man festival, where displays of public sex were common, it wasn’t a surprise. In the spirit of adventure, I decided to check it out.
My Recovery from Schizoaffective disorder
Recovering from schizoaffective disorder was a moment to moment battle that I fought every day. There were many losses and also a number of victories as I struggled through the trauma, social dysfunction, OCD, mania, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia symptoms, and everything else that was hampering me.
Are you Married American?
Getting propositioned by an overweight Mexican man represents the furthest that my love life has progressed since arriving in Mexico, not to mention a long time before.
Tell me again how racism played no part in Brexit
I’ve just been verbally abused for being Jewish. I have never been targeted in this way before but my experience, it is quickly becoming apparent, is not an isolated one in post-Brexit Britain.
My Son is Homeless
My son is a 42 year old homeless man who lives on the streets of West Oakland. This is not only our story, most homeless people that you see have a family somewhere.
Stealing My Story
After Rolling Stone famously retracted their ‘Rape on Campus’ story, Joy Saint James ponders whether we have started to lose faith in first person accounts of rape.
Under the Sounds of Bullets
Sara Swaidek travels back home to Tripoli, Libya. The hope of finding peace is far off as she tries to sleep under the sounds of bullets.
Fainting Distance
New in a foreign city, Carter Vance explores the modern way of meeting people. Everything is digital in our age and it doesn’t look like it will change soon.
Six feet deep
A beloved grandmother’s death sparks unbridled joy at the funeral from the unbelievably dysfunctional Ackerson family.
Mile End to Clydebank
In a heroic attempt to watch Scotland lose at football, Laurence visits an East-End boozer and encounters one of his Scottish compatriots.
Things I Haven’t Said
Michael Herrington recalls his childhood of growing up with a stutter. Commonly misunderstood, living with a speech impediment can affect you in many ways often invisible to the listener.
How to Make it in Modern Art
Making it in the world of modern art is tough. Want the insider’s guide to artistic super-stardom? Here are some secrets of the trade that will capitulate you to be the next Damien Hirst.
Dull and Deluded: Why Your Facebook Posts Suck
Ever wanted to know why your Facebook posts suck? Here are 10 of the most comment Facebook sins committed.
The grim reality of sex after a bunch of booze
City worker, James Richardson, describes an anonymous hook up in a bar and the grim reality of trying to have sex after 12 pints of beer.
