Letters from Quotidia

-Yet another doleful dirge, eh?- -Hey, what do you expect, another My Way?- -Well, we could certainly use the money.- -Sorry but I can’t write from the point of view of a sociopath! I mean, a full life lived with so few regrets that they’re not worth mentioning!- More

The kids of The Colony had a rare freedom, even for those relaxed times of the 1960s. We swam in the lagoons, fished off the reef, and explored the caves and abandoned phosphate mines of ArubaMore

. Poets so very often get it right, don’t they? And long may that gentle light return- even though it may seem to stray and vanish. More

...let us pause and relax around the flickering light of the campfire at this sweet oasis and talk about Cabbages and Kings or, oh, what about Presidents and Popes...More

I recall from my childhood, images of a devilish red angel with pitchfork and lashing tail whispering malicious enticements into the left ear of the protagonist while into the right ear a glowing white angelic figure whispers contrary advice.More

From Magna Carta, through Susan B Anthony’s magnificent speech in June 1873 declaring the personhood of women and consequently their right to vote under the Constitution, to the D-Day invasion on 4th June 1944, June has been a month of resonant hope to those of us who maintain an optimistic view that the forces of darkness will be ultimately defeated by the light. More

What if you aren't an ordinary person- or indeed a person at all! Are you an alien? Or perhaps an angel? But I refer neither to aliens nor angels, but to modern AI assistants like Microsoft's Co-Pilot.More

Welcome to Letters from Quotidia 2025 Weekend Supplement 3. Quotidia exists as a safe place for ordinary people who sometimes get to encounter the extraordinary. As the original Letters roll out over the coming months, there will be occasions when the urge to create re-asserts itself. These occasional letters will take the form of weekend…More

One of the most timeworn genres is the love song. From The Love Song of Shu-Sin 4000 years ago to the latest effusion in the charts, we never tire of the theme in any of its many variations.More

So where does it come from? This urge to create something new that itches until scratched, wherein a spark ignites a flame that may grow into a conflagration, or which is more likely, merely results in reddened, irritated skin as flaking epithelial cells drift slowly to the floor to accumulate as one of the more harmless components of household dust.More

Time goes running, even/As we talk. Take the present, the future’s no one’s affair.// Horace, with his unsentimental eye, says it so well. More

For New Years Eve 2024, I leave you with something hopeful- this from Psalm 18, may serve: "You Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."More

The best prophets have the capacity to surprise us! “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” More