charles barrow's writing

One of the few silver linings of this lockdown malarky is that the pace of life has slowed down. The frenetic pace of life that we were expected to maintain, which was quite frankly exhausting, is something that I don't miss at all. Now I can move around the house and garden at my own pace. I can study the flower borders to see what's happening down there at ground level. I can study the pots in the greenhouse, where I have sown chilli, tomato, courgette, squash, basil and coriander seeds. I can check them at hourly intervals. I am learning the art of patience. I can sit on the garden bench and watch, and listen to, the song birds squabble at the feeders. I can study the buds on the apple and almond trees, and make note, every day, as more of those buds burst open, and the trees are gradually covered in pastel pink blossoms. I can also take the time, with my small fishing net, to catch and release all the flying insects that trap themselves inside the conservatory, I've got...

As I type this, 99 year old Captain Tom Moore has completed 100 laps of his garden, ahead of his 100 th  birthday, and raised over £18 million for NHS charities. It’s an astounding achievement, and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by his determination, and the way people worldwide have come together and rallied behind him. There are, and will be, many more positive stories to come out of the strange times we find ourselves living in, and they are being reported daily across the news feeds, and we need to hear them; we need cheery news, and news that we can cheer. And I hope to write posts of a more positive bent, than I’m about to, in the coming weeks because my daily reality is not all gloom and doom, but today I’m going to focus on loss, because loss is also a part of my day too. We’ve all lost a lot of things recently. Intimacy is the first thing that springs to mind. I can’t remember the last time I gave someone a hug. It was such a commonplace part ...

It's 15 days since I last posted, about Covid-19, and in that time the world has been upended. On a Macro scale things have become nightmarish, with hundreds dying in every country, and society as we knew it (certainly in the West) changing out of all recognition. The Macro, informs the Micro, of course, and individually our lives and routines have had to change and adapt too. But amongst the wholesale changes, I've managed to hold on to a few familiar things. I suspect we've all latched on to certain things that are still available and familiar and make us feel more secure in uncertain times. For me, my morning exercises (after coffee) are something that I can continue with, speaking with family and friends, texting and emailing continues too (perhaps more frequently now). Listening to the radio. Gazing out of the window at trees and clouds, a simple pleasure I've always enjoyed and can continue to enjoy. And walking is still allowed to us too, in fact it's encoura...

It is seems wilfully obtuse to put up a post here and not acknowledge what's happening in the world right now. I was going to write about moving home, which I will be doing in a couple of weeks time; moving county, moving from an island to the mainland. I will probably write about all these things in the coming weeks but it seems besides the point to write about them now. Having said all of that I'm not sure what I want to say about what's happening. I could get very angry and rant about how the British Government is ploughing its own dangerous furrow when it comes to responding to the emergency. It's gone full Brexit in ignoring everything other European countries are doing or, in fact, doing the opposite. If they have closed it, we have kept it open. While they are still testing people, we have stopped. It seems bloody minded, and perverse in the extreme - but then that's Boris Johnson in a nutshell. Someone suggested I should take the opportunity to promote m...

The weather has been so bad over the past couple of weeks, and there is always a temptation to search for signs that things will improve, and then to load these signs with a positive outcome. A silver lining, or a rainbow, will always do the trick, bring a surge of optimism. I'm moving, packing up my life, and moving back to the mainland. I've been living on an island for 9 years and it's time to head back to where my friends, my true home, and my heart reside. It hasn't exactly been a hasty decision, but I know that it's the right one. And now that I've pulled the trigger things will move quickly, and the upcoming weeks will be filled with planning, packing, and saying my goodbyes to the friends that I've made here. I'm optimistic about the future, things are falling into place, I've been watching for signs, and the weather is set fair on the road head. The photo is the author's own.

Traditionally, a  drabble  is a piece of fiction that is exactly 100  words long . Thank you Google. I was completely unaware that a drabble was a thing, especially a fiction writing thing. I'd heard of flash-fiction, and micro-fiction to describe short pieces, but not a drabble. Until, that is, I happened upon a Blogger blog, 101fiction, entirely dedicated to the drabble. They run a monthly drabble writing competition - t he prize is publication in their download magazine. They ask for stories of 100 words, and t hey allow only a one word title, hence the 101 of 101fiction, and they set a different theme each month, this month it's Invention . The whole idea intrigued me. I've never tried writing such a short piece of fiction before, and there was something about that title of Invention that was a great writing prompt for me. So, for that past week I've been writing a drabble. I've really enjoyed the process, the constraints that such a small word limit impose...

The Stolen Days of John Mann Chapter One ‘Dear Lord, thank you for the food before us, the fire in the grate, and the roof above our head. Please spare those we love and keep us safe from harm. Amen.’ John Mann opened his eyes and placed his hands in his lap as David and Helen repeated the blessing. The boy turned in his seat to face Mann. ‘You changed the words Father.’ He has his mother’s bright eyes, thought Mann. ‘David.’ This was a rebuke from his mother. ‘The boy is right.’ Said Mann. ‘Why’d you change them?’ Asked David. ‘Prayer doesn’t lose its aim because I change some words.’ ‘God still hears you?’ ‘Always. We should never be afraid of straying from familiar paths to find new ones, even when we’re told there is only one way forward.’ David looked puzzled, ‘But Mrs Ginty says…’ ‘That’s enough son, eat your supper.’ Helen levelled a firm look at Mann. ‘It’s best we don’t have talk that runs counter to David’s schooling.’ ‘Forg...