Monthly Archive for November, 2006

And share with otters

I was an altar boy in my youth (misspent in a very real sense). Cassocks, monstronces, sacristies; such were my domain. I did a good line in self-effacing crossing of the altar that would stand me in good stead in later life (pitching up late for seminars is much like mistiming one’s walk down the Continue reading →

Ageing by rail

The year is 2006. The month, November. The time, 16.55 (expected). I sit in my lavishly downholstered South West Trains bucket seat, accumulating other people’s dandruff from the headrest, and wonder how on earth my neighbour manages to snore, operate his Blackberry and emit a sort of whistling sound from an unknown orifice all at Continue reading →

The debt we owe hip-hop

“Wassup, dawg?” a young man asks. “Keepin’ it real, G,” comes the reply. “A-ight, man.” A common enough exchange, and one in which we’ve all partaken at some point, even if only vicariously through our wireless sets. Yet the significance is lost on many, so stoic and understated is the delivery. “Wassup, dawg?” – an Continue reading →