Happy Birthday!
Autumn, the season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and birthdays. For whatever reason we have a bunch of family birthdays squeezed into a roughly four week...
The Goldfish Bowl
Way back when I was at junior school we had a weekly school assembly. We were led in by our teachers, class by class, and sat cross-legged in rows on the...
Status anxiety
There was a disturbance in the discourse on Twitter recently and I found myself drawn to it like a moth to flame. Generally I avoid such temptations as I am...
Crimson Hieroglyphs
I don't think anyone has said this before but writing is hard. I know, I'm breaking new ground here. Alas, it is true. You may not believe me if you have...
Multiple Occupancy
Saturday and Phil begins packing food for our daughter's return to university. From where I am sitting all I can see is a huge jar of Nutella and several...
Close Protection
I was absentmindedly gazing out of our holiday let window in Devon when my eye was caught by a family promenading along the seafront opposite. That man looks...
The Hawke is Howling
Have you ever met someone for the first time and disliked them for no reason whatsoever? They can be lovely people, kind to goldfish, promptly pay their...
Kidnapped by Mermaids
My daughter is freshly, or not so freshly, returned from a music festival (where a negative Covid test was necessary). I can second hand report that the...
Two Landscapes
For three days in a row the auction house has called me up demanding to know when I will be paying for and collecting my watercolours. This comes as a...
Olympic Hopeful
Unlike my ultra-masculine alter-ego Wolf Watson I don’t hunt. No shooting or fishing for me. Killing things is not really my bag. Eating them is another...
Toot toot!
Indulge me while I wallow in a bit of self-promotion. The Book Tour has been nominated for Book of The Year by the Harvey awards. The Harveys are named after...
Not Fully Invested
Football. There’s a lot of it about. Before you stop reading I will not be boring you silly about my lifelong passion for ‘the beautiful game’, childhood...
Great Migration
The security gate swung open on its creaking hinges to let them in. A steady stream entered empty-handed and staggered out carrying boxes, family-sized bags...
Daylight robbery
Mid-afternoon is the sweet spot for hitting the post office. Sandwiched between lunch hour and school pick up is quietest. I have finely calibrated my visits...
POK!
It was several weeks ago that Phil and I were woken early by a loud POK. In different circumstances it might have been the beginnings of an intriguing...
Top Secret
The sun is barely up and my body refuses to go back to sleep. I have my second vaccine jab in a mere four hours time and my internal alarm clock is not...
Shameful Secret
Using the literary sleight of hand of an expert wordsmith this newsletter may have given you the impression that you know everything about my life. That...
Hurtful (and untrue)
The reviews are in and according to my family last week’s newsletter was “a lot of boring stuff about comics”. I am shocked, saddened, and frankly surprised...
Assimilated
It wasn’t so long ago while attending Angoulême that I was pompously telling a fellow cartoonist that I could never work completely digitally as it lacked...
One year old
I was obliviously typing away on a completely different and mostly irrelevant topic (no surprise if you have been here before) for this week’s newsletter...