Arriving in Snipers' Alley by JP SextonAs the war in Ukraine enters its fourth month, the author recalls his introduction nearly three decades ago to Europe's last war which...
Crossing to England by Amir Darwish We’d stayed outside the refugee camp until the early hours of the morning. The camp was huge, with over a thousand refugees
Opal Miner Twenty-Niner by James BloomThey roll into Coober Pedy around midnight, having disembarked from the Indian Pacific at Port Augusta early that afternoon.
The Virgin's Quest by Auriel RoeTrying to lose one's maidenhead, when all about you are losing theirs, becomes more complicated than anticipated...
Coming Through with the Balloons by Kirsten WassonSuffocated by small town life, weary of the frozen tundra of Ithaca, New York winters, I took trips down to Manhattan as often as I...
Setting Up in Sydney by James BloomLiving in a seedy youth hostel in Sydney Australia the 1980s, the author visits the labour exchange and finds work making soap and boxes.
Grimness at The Grand by Auriel Roe Like my Grandma Manda before she married, I was to be a ‘maid of all work’: chambermaid, dish-washer, kitchen hand and laundress.
One For Sorrow by Madeline McEwenBritain, 1988: In a recession, landing a job, any job, is like winning the Lottery and that’s how I felt when the temping agency rang me....
Scorpions in Goa, A Dark Memory by Lawrence Morgan“It’s a tropical paradise, yes, but you must never sleep on the floor there...”
Floodwater by Deborah Nash OttJust before the big flood of 1972 in Rochester, New York, in the wake of Hurricane Agnus, my father moved out of our house for good.
Walking the Dog by Tim AtkinsonI have named my pain and called it ‘dog’ —Friedrich Nietszche, The Gay Science
Self Worth through Hard Work at the Vicarage by Auriel RoeI’d never been to Birmingham before and getting off the train at the dimly-lit subterranean station was not an auspicious start to summer.
Christmas, Elsewhere by Heather GatleyIt was 1963. A blizzard blew across the grass outside the married quarters where we lived in RAF St Athan.
Adventures in the B Movie Trade by Brian Trenchard-SmithThe source of the Actor’s anxiety arrives on the set, his partner in the scene, a male with dangling testicles each the size of grapefruit.
Homemade Halloween by Auriel RoeWe’d hollow out rock hard swedes with sharp knives. When we lit the stump of a candle inside them, the smell of singed swede was beguiling.
Biden in the Elevator, Trump in the BarBiden immediately dropped his briefcase and contorted himself into a wrestler’s crouch, hands in front ready to strike.
Out of the Picture by Charles HaraMay 3rd, 1971. We're having a party. I’m six years old, and my parents still speak to one another.
Departure by James BloomThese events all occurred more than a third of a century ago, a minimum of a dozen more years than he was old at the time they happened.
Have Chalk, Will Travel by Heather Gatley‘Have Chalk, Will Travel’, ran a colleague’s doggerel poem at my farewell do.