Author Archives: Scribe Doll
My Work Space
I spend my days at a 60 x 60 cm table with a laminated beech surface and folding steel legs. It’s an exam desk, really, the kind I sat my school exams at, with a groove for pens. I couldn’t … Continue reading
After the Solstice
A sound. I become aware of a sound. It finds its way to me through the whirring of my laptop, the hissing of the electrical devices, the faint but constant buzzing of wattage adaptors in the ceiling, the dull, oppressive … Continue reading
Brownie & Sentinel
“It’s like when you’re happy that two people you really like get together,” H. announced, smiling, after witnessing Brownie and Sentinel engaged in an intimate act on our kitchen balcony. I understand it was a blink-and-you-miss-it, straight-to-the-point performance, but long … Continue reading
The rain is calling
The rain is calling. Stop hiding. I’m sitting at my work table, reading the Saturday papers online while trying to psych myself up to work. My eyes keep drifting away from the screen to the raindrops landing sharply on the … Continue reading
And what of Italian Fairy Tales?
I would like to draw your attention to an interview I did with fellow Italian-English translator Lori Hetherington about her recently published translation of Emma Perodi’s TUSCAN TALES. There is a link to the interview on the website of the … Continue reading
Evening Prayer Before Lockdown
I went to evening prayer the night before this second lockdown began. I’ve always loved choral evensong. The first one I ever heard, in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, in early Michaelmas Term 1984, made such a life-changing impression … Continue reading
Posted in Odds & Ends
Tagged christmas carols, katherine gregor, Lockdown, musings, scribe doll
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My Citrine Quartz Ring
My friend F. gave me a ring two summers ago. Even elegant Autumn stomped in this year, perhaps sensing that subtlety was wasted on us. The bay tree on our balcony is waterlogged, the French windows are streaked with rain, … Continue reading
Posted in Odds & Ends, Uncategorized
Tagged Citrine, friendship, katherine gregor, rome, scribe doll, writing
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Twenty-Five-Hour Day
I’ve written about this before. After Christmas Eve, this is my favourite day of the year. I look forward to it for weeks and, the night before, I go to sleep cradled by the joy of genuine hope and anticipation, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged british summer time, clocks go back, katherine gregor, scribe doll
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A Red Hair Drier
I threw away a hair drier last week. It had been lying around for weeks while I tried to find someone to fix it. The prospect of throwing it away made me sad. I haven’t used a hair drier for … Continue reading
Through a Zoom Lens*
My favourite thing after I wake up in the morning is to step out on the balcony outside my study and stand beneath the vast expanse of the East Anglian skies. The pigeons are generally sitting on the railings or … Continue reading
