Of love and a proposal

The sunlight on the water
Reflected in her smile
And when I got on bended knee
The twinkle in her eye.

I was so very nervous
Although I tried to seem so bold
But the tears trickled from my eyes
When I slipped on the ring of gold.

The earth stood still at that moment
And my heart thundered in my ears
Until she said Yes she’d be mine
For the remainder of our years.

Now my life is almost done And my youth I can barely remember But I will never forget the sheer…

Love, heartbreak and a small bird

As we talked on the phone, the day outside was as bright as my outlook was dark. The voice on the other end of the line whispered, ‘it’s over’, and my voice broke as I struggled for air.

Ping!

My breaking heart seemed to manifest in a thud on my windowpane, and as the glass shook I slammed down the phone. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say.

I rushed to my window only to find a little bird, a robin, crumpled on the windowsill.

As tears rolled down my cheeks, thoughts…

For the first time since starting college, I ventured into the Terrapin, the double-size mobile classroom that served as our Student Union. Painted black inside with the main lighting coming from the bar and the stage, it was small, just a little dingy, but atmospheric.

The smell of stale alcohol, sweat, and perfume pervaded the place as the band, made up of 1st and 2nd-year students, belted out She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, as I entered.

I squeezed my way through the throngs of inebriated but good-natured pseudo-intellectuals and ordered the first of many 50p pints of Fosters I…

Several years ago, having become bored with paying for new computers only to have the same operating system onboard, albeit a shinier package, I began to glance around for something new.

MacOS only worked comfortably on Apple computers which, I don’t mind telling you, were way out of my budget at the time. The Chrome operating system was yet to be developed and so, after reading a large array of computer magazines, my gaze fell upon Linux. This is a free operating system and one which works nicely on older machines. …

I can still remember sitting at work when a news report announced the impending release of the PlayStation 2 and rumours of a new console under development from Microsoft. The eponymous ‘Xbox’ sounded more akin to a manufacturers code-name rather than the given name of what would become a massively successful gaming institution.

In the winter of 1998, I was at college and one of my flatmates brought up his Nintendo64. The console looked so good and it’s M shaped controller so strange, I was immediately curious. Up to this point, I had been playing the PlayStation, or PS One as we would now refer to it. I had always thought of Nintendo consoles as kids machines whereas as a college student, the PS One was much more an adult console in my mind. My outlook changed, however, when the Golden Eye 007 cartridge was pushed home.

Nintendo64 launched in Europe in March…

The bass drum pounded and the lead guitar riff ripped through the audience as we three looked through the coming dusk. From our vantage point on the hill, the green laser light from the stage played across the swell of the crowd as their heads rose and fell like a Mexican Wave in time to the music.

We each held a plate of food we snaffled from the tables down below. Little triangle sandwiches, sausage rolls, a slice of cake, the usual fare from the August street-party that marked the penultimate week of our summer holidays.

We laughed and joked…

When I turn my attention to writing a new article my mind, I have to admit, doesn’t always lean towards efficiency and order. Ideas pop out of my head like kittens from a basket, unpredictable, hard to keep hold of and even more difficult to get into any semblance of order.

I have therefore developed strategies and a set of go-to tools to help me corral these ideas before they disappear into the ether.

I do not have one App or device that is a catch-all to help me. …