A forever work in progress

When I look out at the sea of faces sat before me today it just goes to show what an incredible man Andrew was and how loved and adored he was by so many people. I know each and every one of us here today to pay our respects have been touched by his kindness, his generosity and his ability to bring sunshine to even the greyest of days. I know that my words which I'll readily admit have taken hours of writing and rewriting will never be enough to fully describe what a truly special man he was. They will sadly fall short of doing him justice but thankfully you won't all be reliant on me trying to put into words what an amazing person he was. Thankfully for me you'll all know that from first hand experience and not have to take my word for it.  Andrew was to put it mildly an incredible human being, they definitely broke the mould when they made him. There's a group of us that have been friends since the very first day of primary school. You'll easily recognise us all i...

Apologies in advance, what follows isn't a short story but a series of observations... A man follows a woman up the middle of a road several feet behind. They're walking in silence, she's clutching a loaf of bread in her right hand. Have they had an argument, is she getting ready to swing it at him? Maybe she's just got a hankering for a sandwich or for toast and is desperate to get home and eat? It's a quarter past nine and there's still a shade or two of daylight left in the sky before the dark of night descends. High to the west, Venus shines in solitude. The stars are winning in their giant game of hide and seek.  The muffled sound of music can be heard. I can't tell if it's from a long distance away or from a short one somewhere in someone's home. A bird in a tree tweets in joyous song clearly not yet ready for sleep. Maybe they're celebrating a new arrival in the family given its spring. A youth cycles down a path with no lights on his bike...

Apologies in advance, what follows isn't a short story but a series of observations... Two pedestrian collapsible traffic lights are folded in half, out of use, but oddly still switched on. The light from two upside down men in red illuminate the grass verge on where they rest. It feels like a scene from Alice in Wonderland. A delivery bike shoots past and as the electrics kick in the man's legs appear to be struggling to keep up with the sudden turn of pace. Barriers continue to block pathways but there's no sign that the works have been progressing since they were put up, standing as relics to another job started which causes pedestrians inconvenience and then abandoned to repeat the same process elsewhere. It's a relay team constantly dropping batons at the critical point.  The head of a large daffodil protrudes through horizontal iron railings, a prisoner held captive shackled to the pot it's bedded into. The bass line from a car stereo reverberates through its ...

Apologies in advance, what follows isn't a short story but a series of observations. Blossom adorns the pavement like confetti thrown at a newly wed couple. Upon parked cars the rain drops from an earlier brief shower glisten giving them the appearance of having built up a hearty sweat following a good workout at the gym. A series of lights sunk into the grass of a front lawn could act as a landing strip on a runway if the drive next to it wasn't so short. Despite it being evening on Easter Monday a Tesco delivery van is on an estate working. It croaks like a giant bullfrog as it reverses back around a corner.  A couple cross the road conversing in a language I don't recognise. Another couple enter a house, the woman looks like she's smuggling two pillows under her long skirt. She laughs at something he said but it appears more out of politeness than because of genuine amusement.  A lad walks towards me carrying his dinner in a white plastic takeaway bag, the faint arom...

Apologies in advance, what follows isn't a short story but a series of observations... It's Sunday night, a little before 10pm on what is Easter Sunday. I reach the outskirts of the town of my birthplace and which has been my home for much of my 47 years. Silence has descended upon her akin to the days when everything would once have been closed on a Sunday. The type of silence that follows a full blown argument where both sides have retreated to their respective sanctity, the only thing missing here is the unease. All is still, it's like the beauty found in the brush strokes of a classic painting. For now the only noise that can be heard is the thrum of an extractor fan, the sound of my feet and the casing of a loose pack of ibuprofen rubbing against my glasses which is a very distinctive sound as you can probably imagine.  For a couple of minutes no sign of life, eventually I pass a couple walking up the hill to my right as I carry walking over a crossroad. She laughs as ...

"Mikeyyyy?" Oh great what does she want now? I tentatively stick my head around the living room door. "Yes mum?"  "Am I talking to you or the fucking door?" "Sorry mum," I tell her, moving clear of the door and now stood straight in the firing line.  "You going down the pub tonight?" Oh here it comes. "Yeah." Keep it short and sweet, damage limitation.  "Take Tommy with you, I need some me time ." I don't even want to contemplate the meaning of me time . "Mum, he's 16 years old. He's not old enough to go into a pub."  "I didn't say take him down the pub and buy him a pint. I said take him with you?" "What and buy him a bottle of Coke with a straw and a packet of salt and vinegar? Behave." "Oi don't you tell your mother to behave. Do you know how many hours I was in labour with you?" "32 hours mum." "Yes 32 hours and do you know what you did to...

“I take your point but most things in life are really quite obvious when you really think about it. I mean not quantum physics…obviously. Although maybe that does make them obvious in a way.” “Oh you're so kind for taking my point. No offence, by which to you specifically I mean every offence, but that's somewhat of a generalised sweeping statement don't you think? Are most things really that obvious? Would you care to offer up an example?” “Ummmm … Social media profile photographs.” “You might need to elaborate on that one a tiny bit more. And how old are you by the way calling profile pics, profile photographs, you old fart you!” “Same age as you. I mean do please excuse one for speaking properly. Where was I? Oh I remember. OK, well as a good example every time you see two girls in a profile photograph, sorry, in a profile pic, one of whom is shall we say…how do I put this delicately? Oh bollocks, let's just say it like it is, one of whom is fat and the other one i...