Three years after I moved to the country house, I hired a gardener. Before that, I pushed a dinky mower through the near reaches of the grounds and left the perimeters to themselves. I planted an azalea bush or two out front and lopped the hedges in the back into…

It is darkening outside, and the doctor is leaving. He is finished. The cold circle of his stethoscope and the hopeful pinch of his fingers are still here and so is the too-bright bedside bulb. The lamp is on, and the blinds are down. …

Someone traveling alone … will see, within the context of his own capacity for observation … everything upon which he focuses his attention. If there are two travelers, each one will be able to see no more than half of these things; a quarter of them if there are four…

Or, Grimnir’s origins revealed Six months ago, I knew nothing about Alan Garner. Today, five of his books are stacked on my desk. Only one of them is mine to keep. I’ve renewed one of the remaining three seven times now from the library. I’m at that place where I…

or, if you prefer, a whole flight Read this… with this

It was less than a year ago that I sat in this same armchair and, watching Steve McQueen’s house-party, felt so very grateful to him. For giving us this ‘drama’ with no drama. For filming joy in real time. …

The 6:12 was ready to depart. The last passenger, harried and hurried, climbed on board and, hoisting his wheeled case behind him awkwardly, queried the guard. “Yes. You will find a toilet at the end of each car,” he was assured. The platform was now empty. The handful of people…

What you are missing if you are not on the president’s email list — In early June, I received a message from Donald J. Trump. How curious! I have never asked to receive any messages from Donald J. Trump. I’m as free of potential algorithmic suggestions that I might want to receive his attentions as they get, I would have thought. Not on twitter…

miles with a formidable third — A HIGH WIND rose up in late June and was still blowing, fulsome, on the first Sunday of July. The constant sound and sway, combined with a sky draped in shades of overcast, gave the mid-summer days a higher degree of restive April than of post-solstice summer. But it had…