Big Sam's slip-up

Posted by Simon Parke, 29 Sep 2016

It wasn’t the silly jibes at people in the job before him, like Roy Hodgson and Gary Neville.

I mean, we all show off sometimes, surfing on our imagined excellence, comparing ourselves rather favourably to our (shit) peers and rivals.

Nor was it the unwise suggestion that he knew how to get round the rules surrounding third party ownership of footballers…

The Garden of Sadness

Posted by Simon Parke, 27 Sep 2016

If you come across the Garden of Sadness on your way home, if it appears along the way, don’t rush by too quickly…

...or with eyes and head averted.

People do tend to avoid it by some means or other…

The Darkling Thrush

Posted by Simon Parke, 26 Sep 2016

My poem of the week is The Darkling Thrush by the English novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy, (1840 - 1928)

His novels - like Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d’urbervilles -  famous and honoured now, were not favourably reviewed at the time, which may have led him to take up poetry…