Smiffblog.
Shall we meet then, you and I… In Skyros
Shall we meet then, you and I, on a Greek island in September? Any day between Saturday 4th and 11th? Admittedly you will have to pay for this – but think what fun we can have… This will be the 4th time I have taught a course this year called ‘Mindlessness’ on the island of Skyros and […]
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My Dad’s End To The War
“We saw the Germans attempting to blow up the bridge over the river which the GIs would have to cross. Later a tank approached over the bridge and the Germans held up their arms in surrender. White flags appeared at all the windows of the surrounding buildings. Freedom was nigh! Soon American infantry entered Colditz. […]
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2 little poems, the second unfinished
And when I watch the news And when I watch the news I look not at the urgent reporter gabbling into the unfolding event trying so hard to see meaning in the mayhem but behind and above him at the chaotic mosaic of heads the angry men confirming the story in this hot dry place […]
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Malcolm Hardee 10 years gone.
Malcolm Hardee 10 years gone. This is what I wrote about him in my memoir anything you do not understand please regard as significant (Arnold Brown) …..But the most striking example of the overlapping of venue and person was to be found down the rough end of Greenwich, the natural habitat of one of […]
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Eighty-six
Moments after leaving home, I return to put my shorts on. Goodness, it is warm – the hottest Halloween, no doubt, since records began. I usually walk there but today I cab it, hoping I might see Nick who has been with Hazel this morning. (Richard is going tomorrow). I see from the […]
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Rape Jokes
Originally published in The Stage Nov 2014 There has been much discussion in comedy circles recently about the rise of sexist material peddled by young male stand ups and especially the rape ‘jokes’ that have become increasingly common. Enter comic Dapper Laughs with his profoundly misogynistic ITV 2 show ‘On the Pull.’ He was […]
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Poem: Saturday in Athens
Saturday in Athens You can just discern her, a faded imprint in the matinal shimmer a little shabbier than one might hope She sits and thinks and sits and thinks about her glorious heyday years (which all the world is still applauding) and wonders what will become of her… But then as dusk […]
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Reminiscences of my first Edinburgh Fringe
Reminiscences of my first Edinburgh Fringe (extracted, and slightly amended, from my memoir ‘My Name is Daphne Fairfax’ In late summer it is the only thing to do. For two of the past 30 years I have missed it and both times I felt like all my friends were having a terrific get-together while I had […]
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Ed Fringe 2014
Stage – Ed 2014 The street cleaners have cancelled their holidays, bekilted beardymen are defragging their bagpipes (I don’t know – how do you clean a bagpipe?), retired dames in Morningside are sharpening their pencils and the Lothian police are taking on new recruits – yes, the Edinburgh festival Fringe is back in town and […]
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The moment you wake
The moment you wake Is nothing The immense unknowable zero Before the big bang Of self-consciousness Who you are Where you are Who you know What you do And then What you have to do this day And what for breakfast? Swing round Slippers on Here we go again
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