A Toast to Tbilisi

The houses stood, they perched on top of each other, they sprawled. New, old, and falling apart. Nearly all had a balcony – in whatever colour they fancied. And then there were the streets: steep …

A Long, Cold Night

I crouched, shivering, beside the makeshift stove. A small pan filled with snow was balanced above the gas canister, the small blue flame hissing and sputtering in the wind. Slowly, slowly, the snow melted, decreasing …

Orkney

North. Keep going North. Keep driving – past Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester. Past the Lake District, where low stone walls trace patterns across green fields (and where we stop to buy me a pair of new …

Just a Normal Day

After breakfast, I opened my laptop I took the tram into town. When Zoom had loaded When I arrived at university, I searched for the correct link I looked for the classroom and clicked ‘join …

Making my Mark

I made my mark the other day. On the wall. First in pencil, then with a drill. It was a big moment for me. I’d been putting it off for a while, afraid that I …

Do Re Mi

She moves the microphone out of the way and hands me a pair of boxing gloves. ‘Put these on.’ ‘I signed up for singing, not boxing lessons,’ I say doubtfully. ‘Trust me!’ I put the …

Thanksgiving

I celebrated thanksgiving for the first time last year. Twice. I hadn’t been expecting to celebrate it at all. On the last Thursday of November, I was sitting in a university seminar, my concentration dwindling, …