The only time I ever saw my Grandad buy alcohol was for haymaking. As the summer days became hotter and dryer, inside the larder would appear a large bottle of Woodpecker Cider, in it’s distinctive green and red livery. The grass had been mown a…

It's been a long time since I spent hours shooting in monochrome, back in the days of Ilford HP5 and FP4 rolling through my Nikon FE2. So on a recent trip to Cardiff, I decided to return to some black and white work. I just…

"The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows. Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on…

There is always one of the hardened, vicious, replilian claw thorns that's going to get you. Usually the one you never saw coming. Straight into the outside edge of my hand, stinging like a hornet. I cursed and slowly pushed my arm forward to ease…

I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with…

There are times when I feel trapped in a life of domesticity. With countless ties pulling me away from the freedom to just disappear, go, think, walk or travel. I'm a middle aged man, husband and father so with these roles, naturally, come responsibility and…

Note: I originally wrote this piece back in 2015, but never hit publish. But it's here now... After dropping off my son with his childminder I reckoned I had about 45 minutes spare before the 9.00am clock on. I was wearing a pair of shorts…

Perhaps having the allotment was worth it after all. I have grown salad! Yes, dear reader, after nearly losing my allotment because it was too much to keep under control, to trying again and having the world's most embarrassing harvest, I was lucky enough to…

I promised her that when she died, that for the rest of my life I was gonna live for her. I mean really live for her - Franny's Last Ride by Mike Destefano. In lockdown and during furlough, I've needed new, better routines to help me…