Author: Thomas Kelly

It has been said that when we emerge from this crisis there will be a discussion on the BC period, before Covid-19 and an AC, after Covid-19. I suggest there is another period called DC during Covid-19. This is more relevant as we all cope in our own ways. The biggest challenge is wasting time.…

Today on my morning dog walk across the Cow Common it was a good time to reflect in the empty space before me in a physical and mental sense. Physically the Common is deserted. The sun is hot and the cracking of the early frost under my feet delights me. The swans have now come…

In the Islamic calendar, the year 1998 is really only 1418. In England at that time Henry of Monmouth who was still to be on the throne for another 4 years, was battling in Normandy at Rouen. I was in Jeddah. A BA stewardess had just been fired for announcing that rather than alter our…

  Helen walked with purpose scuffing the sand, her toes exploring the crystals that had been washed up and were forming into islands and inlets by the tide that lapped and swirled along the shore. There was an inevitability Chris had told her in his last call that fall-out from any explosion would lead to…

Untipped. I draw a soldier from the foil and tap the crinkled end Compacting the tobacco dark and rich as Flander’s soil And slip the smells back in the box. A match sparks against rough jeans and with cupped hands I nurture the flame to life. The red bulb, once safe explodes And with each…

    The dry window ledge is thick with aged cream paint. A dying wasp scrapes up against the glass Only to drop lifeless Joining dry husks on the dog tired carpet. My finger draws down a glacier of dust on the mahogany chest. A mottled looking-glass blurs my reflection And from behind the wardrobe…

  Time is the only commodity that you can not give. You can not charge it, have credit and you are always in deficit. You need to meet the Zeitgeber. He is a beast that you want. He will give you time taken from those who have lost it. He lives in a dark place,…

First week of July: Amanda came round to watch Wimbledon on my TV. She made rather a meal about me not having a colour set (unlike her parents). In my view, one loses nothing in black and white and as far as sport is concerned the definition is better. She is obsessed by a scruffy…

    Two cars and a lorry that shaped my life In 1975 I came back from Kuwait to start my first job. Japanese cars then were way ahead of the competition with radios, exciting quivering gauges and good heaters as standard. So I wanted one. My parents had taught me to drive on an…

  Dusk always comes early in Manama, it being closer to the equator than other countries. We expatriates who live in the villas by Adliya in the restaurant area draw down our blinds at six and offer ourselves large measures of Indian manufactured gin called London Bridge and whiskey named after that famous and well…