Chapter Eleven The Muppets take the Bait. On the next Thursday when the serious matters of the Gardeners’ Club had concluded I stood up to thank all and sundry for making me feel so welcome. I would be returning to Australia, I told everyone, within the next three days. I apologised if I had not mentioned it beforehand – although I had – that my … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Eleven

I needed to stretch my legs so I drove about five minutes from home and went to the bush for a walk. This isn’t a great forest or a grand stretch of huge gum trees. It is an old gold mining area and you hafta be careful where you walk. But there were a few old friends. If you walk carefully they will not fly … Continue reading A Walk in the Bush

Chapter 10 A Little bit of Blackmail. I met with Kenneth and Fiona. I listened and didn’t say much and when I left them I quickly organised to see Jackie again. Jackie was quite happy to sit and talk. It was too early in the day for a Hoegaarden but I settled for a very decent English ‘tea and scones’ with jam and clotted cream. … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Ten.

Scattered all over Australia are names of places that once were towns or villages. Today they are just localities. Over the years that followed two world wars the villages died along with the young men who left them to fight a long way from home. Now the area around one such place is all farmland and the farmhouses are scattered and there is no sign … Continue reading The Woodworkers’ Club.

Chapter 9 Mayhem and Muppets. In keeping with my newfound sense of security I had moved to a new B&B in Poole close to where the Jersey Ferry docks. I chose Poole for mildly sentimental reason as much as anything – I knew a girl called Poole and she and her husband had once been good friends of mine until they moved to Canada and … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Nine.

They were boys and girls when we played in the park That we left behind when the day turned dark. And the boys and the girls that we left behind Were back the next day. So I gave it no mind.   Those girls and boys grew a little bit older And the girls would lean on the next boy’s shoulder And each time she … Continue reading The girls in the park.

Chapter 8 Looking after his Sister When we got to my place I dumped all my gear, and the hemp seeds, and set off to take Fiona back to Leicester. We drove straight through Oxford on the way but it was dark so I didn’t see much. I said farewell to Fiona and headed back. Fiona has a room at the Uni in Leicester and … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Eight.

Chapter 7 A Holiday for Fiona We got in the car and drove off to find our Industrial Hemp seeds. We left St-Malo and headed south. About fifteen km we turned left onto the N176 and then another fifteen there is a small town called Dol-de-Bretagne. Here we turn right again and we were heading for Fougeres fifty km away. My new fangled GPS what’s-it … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Seven

I’m stuck in Melbourne and it’s difficult using someone else’s computer and I can’t use his photo processing whatsit so I thought I’d just post an old story. Most of you will have seen it before but never-mind. I remember the first attack. It was very much like they describe in magazines and the leaflets you pick up from the Doctor’s: a tight rope around … Continue reading “Well it’s my Funeral.”

Chapter 6 Leicester to St-Malo “Could you buy me another whisky and I’ll tell you……………” We talked for another hour and I went into as much detail as I could. There were some things I hadn’t worked out yet but I was pretty close to a final plan of attack. The next day I went up to Leicester to see Fiona. She was doing her … Continue reading A Cold Dish. Chapter Six.