Scribbled Senseless

As you might know, I recently got married. Foolish as that decision may have been on her part, it was a wonderful day, and it gave me the opportunity to say a few words when everyone I know had to pay attention. Why else would anyone get married? Here is the text of that speech: There is an unexpected side-benefit to being a part of your parents’ weddings. When my dad married Judy, he very kindly asked me to be his best man. Wisely, he did not ask me to be responsible for much – I pretty much just had to turn up on the day and read a speech. When he first mentioned it, he promised me faithfully that he trusted me, that he would leave the writing up to me and that he wouldn't demand to look it over ahead of time. Then, about a month before the wedding he called me up and said “So, about that speech? Yeah, I'm going to need to see it…”. I was outraged at the time, but now I have had the distinct pleasure of returning the favour to him. Revenge is indeed sweet. Truth be ...

It is indeed National Poetry Day, and it has spurred me to finish a poem I've been thinking about for a while. It was to be my first foray into Latin Verse Composition, but even I thought that may end up being a little elitist. Plus, it was really, really difficult. Although it is on some level anathema to me to do this, I feel it might need just a little context before being read. My mother has had, as long as I can remember, a grand piano. It's where I first learnt about music, and how to sing and play. This year, she has sold it, and in about a week's time, it goes to its new home. Hebenus ac Ebur It sits alone, still and silent Not through reverence or neglect, But because it no longer fits. A plant in a garden overgrown, .Choked and shaded Not by weeds, but some other pretty flower Flourishing in the sunlight. With every day it petrifies, Grey with dust it becomes An Ozymandian monument, A lonely edifice to a life no longer lived. ...

Today is the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, and the lights are once again going out across Europe. The hype has dominated the news cycles and the public consciousness for weeks now. It has been an opportunity for us to remember the unprecedented horror of war, and to remember what those who fought and died did it for, and how their aims have been achieved and failed. It is an increasingly rare display of respect, dignity and unity between many countries across the world, as we attempt to treat the curiously dual nature of remembrance: The private impact on people's lives and families and the conquests of nations. One man dying in the mud, over and over, and an Empire falling. I'm sure there will be those who disagree, but personally I have not experienced anything in the build-up that has struck me as at all off-key. Indeed, almost everything on the TV, on the radio, has seemed to be thoughtful, and to try to offer real insight into life at the time of the outb...

If I had a motto, beyond "No, leave me alone", it would be Numquam Dubita . Like all good pithy Latin phrases, it's a little obscure, pseudo-profound, and hard to fathom until it's explained to you. Numquam Dubita can be translated as a range of things: 'Never Regret', 'Never Doubt', 'Never Hesitate'. It has senses close to 'carpe diem', or even 'keep on trucking'. At a push, it can mean (and it pains me to say this) 'be true to yourself'. But the sense of it is always the same. It's a rejection of fear. A rejection of the belief that the universe is bigger than you. A rejection of life grabbing you by the throat and sending you wither it wills. It's the affirmation that you are a true agent, that the things that constitute your life are decided by you and you alone, and that you are the only one with power over yourself. That thought becomes important to me at this time of year. For the past weeks, you...

I have just nearly choked to death. I had just come in for the night and was grabbing a bite, and I just took too big a bite of something and couldn't quite swallow it. The trouble was, I couldn't get it from the back of my throat, and it just slid back towards my oesophagus again. It couldn't go forward, couldn't go back and it started oh so slowly blocking off my airway. I was, in essence, slowly going to choke to death. So, yeah, then I was, like, choking to death and stuff. I felt my airway start to obstruct, my breathing started to get harder, and my epiglottis kinda fluttered to try to shepherd the blockage the other way. What was funny was that I was still very detached from the situation. I felt myself start to panic, and I distinctly told myself "No, stop panicking, this is ridiculous. You're not going to die on the kitchen floor at 20, without doing anything with your life. I mean, YOU'RE not going to DIE at 20. It just won't do." ...

They went to the woods to live more deliberate, To crawl in the rocks like a bear or a hermit And take on new names, new goals and new hearts, Discarding their old lives, dropping the old parts. The lies, the work, the boredom, the struggle, The same same same dull ditchwater bubbles As they drown and choke on their corporate lives In their suits and their ties that will eat them alive. So into the woods is where they escape Through the trees, rushing by in their coats and their capes. But I don’t need their counter to all that they hate. If they want it, then give it them, see what they make With their yawp and their captain and blind bitter rage, As they snarl and they rattle the public school cage That only exists because they put it there, Not to taunt or to tease or to hurt or to scare. If they’d only let go, let it pass them on by, Not to fester and moulder and quietly die, But to dream and to dance in the peace of their heads, T...