Author: Thomas Kelly

The party was over. The directors of the bank had left and I was alone in Bahrain. My journey from foreign exchange dealer in Guernsey to the representative of a bank in Manama had been surprisingly easy. I had not done very much to deserve this and sitting at my desk overlooking the north shore,…

Although I was about to join the Bank of Bermuda, my journey there was full of adventures. I had arrived in London in 1974 with no qualifications but a job offer at Barclays Colonial Office in 168 Fenchurch Street. The pay was £800 a year and it became obvious to me that additional sources of…

An island so beautiful that no one deserves to live there. It is mentioned by Shakespeare in The Tempest and is the oldest Dependant Territory of the United Kingdom. The white sands on 365 beaches and colonial style buildings, a speed limit of 30 mph and a Governor in a plumed hat complete the island…

These were heady days. It was a hot London summer evening. The plane trees along the busy road opposite Victoria Station wilted and their tree trunks pushed through broken paving stones and around were littered with old beer tins and kebab wrappings. There was a dank stink of pee against some of the mottled trunks…

It was barely dawn when the drink-tired Colonel awoke. It must have been the wind he thought. Through the trees, he heard it gathering strength and then rushing like a torrent past the dry jacaranda leaves that were barely clinging to hard branches. The wind would herald the start of the monsoon season. He could…

Lombard and Fenchurch, The Post Office Court Warburgs and Barclays, they all came to nought. Butler’s Head, Jamaica Inn, Simpsons, George and Vulture Raffles, The Antelope, Number 19, Whiteleys and Hair Sculpture. Honda 70, BSA B50, Ford Escort, Golf and Passat Henrietta, Carol, Rich Anthony, Poor Anthony, David Lavers and all that. Sutherland Place, Lesser…

I am your father. Those four words, made from thirteen letters can be powerful, destructive or empathetic when said together or individually. They can be spoken in anger, a last resort, a statement of ‘I know best’ before you are sent to your room with our eyes not meeting. Or whispered with love as last…

I left instructions for you to read this when you are fifteen, but only if I did not come home. That day has come, and although we die alone, I am not frightened as I am with men who I would carry through hell, give my blood for and never leave behind. I have failed…

She was aware that through her eye-shades which were too tight around her head that the cabin lights were changing from dim to an early morning white bright. She had slept rather well cradled in the soft but overly washed sheets and the embroidered snug-wear for the BA0199 flight to Mumbai. She wished there had…

The room was full of false noises and chatter. The cocktails flowed and were too warm. Naval officers in tropical dress-whites looked tired and worn from seeing and participating in so much horror. Gladys stood still, thinking and feeling so alone. She was among men who were among their ghosts. She moved out to the…