Author Archives: Scribe Doll

Odds & Ends: Tristan and Iseut

It was a book with a dark blue cover, with a ghostly picture of a Mediaeval ship, in a paler blue and grey, on the front.  My mother had brought it for me from the local library, in Nice, as … Continue reading

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Pet Hates: Ethnic Monitoring Forms

Join a library, apply for a job or submit a play for a competition.  More often than not, you will have to fill one in.  Apparently, their purpose is to guarantee an equal distribution of opportunities among ethnic backgrounds.  Does … Continue reading

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BBC Radio 4

My Sound Sculpture feature on crows on the BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live, broadcast on 14 January 2012.

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Odds & Ends: The Silence Experiment

I am recovering from a drawn out case of laryngitis.  During this time, there was one particular day when I could not speak.  My throat hurt too much.  Because I am currently between jobs, I was able to indulge the … Continue reading

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Odds & Ends: Rain

I love the rain.  We had a few thunderstorms, last week.  One afternoon, just as I lighting sparked into my room and I heard the thunder drumroll, I grabbed my mac, and rushed out into the street, towards the Thames.  … Continue reading

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Odds & Ends: Illness as a Friend

I am unwell, and beginning to enjoy it.  For one thing, it is giving me time to think.  No, I am not mad.  It is like observing a student being taught a difficult but valuable lesson.  The student throws a … Continue reading

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Words and Civilisation: “I don’t want to get involved”

A friend and I were walking down the street and saw a woman sitting on a doorstep, crying her eyes out.  “Don’t get involved,” said my friend, picking up the pace.  A few steps further, I let my friend go … Continue reading

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The Temple Church

As a rule, I feel uncomfortable at church services.  It is not that I have an issue with God, or with churches per se.  I believe in God, and like most churches built at least 500 years ago.  It is … Continue reading

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Yekaterina Gregoryán – My Grandmother

My grandmother had nerves of steel.  My mother and I used to joke that if anyone were ever to tell her there was an imminent nuclear attack, she would purse her lips in that way she did when considering various … Continue reading

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Odds & Ends: ‘Hushabye Mountain’

As many of you will have heard, Robert B. Sherman passed away, last week, aged 86.  With his brother Richard M. Sherman, he wrote songs for films many of us will remember from their childhood, such as – among others – … Continue reading

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