Davey was frightened. He had made all sorts of mistakes in life, and now it had come to this, he thought to himself as he gazed fixedly into the putrid black water. Thinking all the usual thoughts that people think in Davey’s position – he was practiced at them by now – he contemplated the […]
Category archives: The Kind Stranger
“I AM HERE” What on earth …
The latest Sercombe motorbike adventure was to the Outer Hebrides. Just me, my big BMW R1200GS and my red tent. In case you’ve never been there – and few people round West Sussex have as it’s 730 miles away – this string of islands is off the northwest coast of Scotland, windy, rainy and cold. And in the […]
The Storm
When was your last storm? Not the kind that you buy your weatherproof Goretex jacket for, or watch through the lounge window. Not a physical storm like a typhoon or hurricane in the natural world, but a more personal storm that bubbles up from nowhere, comes at you unyielding and unrelenting from ‘across the sea’, […]
The Kind Stranger: On the Beach
I was sitting alone on holiday in the sun when the Kind Stranger came to me next. I’d been weary and tired – they’re different, aren’t they – and needed to hear a reassuring voice. But it was his shadow I noticed first. It cast itself across the table I was sitting at and I […]
Speaking to Strangers
Yesterday I was one of the mentors and judges at an Enterprise Day for young people held at Butlins in Bognor Regis. There were 150 youngsters, all from Year 10, from perhaps eight schools learning about business. Brilliant. They listened, worked and learned, and so did I. One of the organisers pointed out to me […]
GOD: Part 1. The Pretend Experiment
Whether you believe in ‘God’ or not, spending time thinking about him (I’m using the masculine because it works for me, not because I believe ‘God’ to be necessarily male) is good for you. Official. Funny that. According to the latest academic studies of literally hundreds of neuroscientists worldwide and summarised in Dr Andrew Newberg’s […]
The Kind Stranger Chapter 5: Before the beginning
Yes, I know. “Before the beginning” doesn’t make sense, does it, but the truth seems to be that the Kind Stranger knew me long before the beginning of our friendship. When I met him on that first day, he was completely new to me. Yet I could somehow detect that I wasn’t new to him. […]
The Kind Stranger Chapter 4: A trip to the pottery.
“Good morning!” I’m getting used to the Kind Stranger sneaking up on me and surprising me. Behind his smiling face is a playful sense of humour. Here I was getting on with my life, preparing breakfast in the kitchen. In he came, looking for me. KS is always welcome in our home. “We’re going on […]
The Kind Stranger. Chapter 2: The Second Encounter
Read the previous chapter? Then enjoy the second chapter of this amazing story… It was the day after I met him that I first noticed a change. Now, as I think back, it is hardly surprising that it would affect my future life. I had experienced something very special, and through the night I tossed […]
