Guided Tour - recommended posts from the first quarter of this year

Pick of the Archive:

Favourite Posts, Jan. - March '07

1) Hangovers from many countries - 31st March

The Norwegians have a word (or rather, a phrase) for it.

2) Hangovers & Me - 31st March

A key incident from my childhood explains why I don't get hangovers.

3) The London Inn - 29th March

Sweet nostalgia - a recollection of childhood holidays in Somerset.

4) Besting Eric (Yet another memory of The Temple) - 27th March

Another story from one of my favourite pubs in Oxford: a description of the greatest pool shot I have ever played.

5) The Beermat Game (Another memory of The Temple) - 24th March

Hanging out with my best beer buddy, The Bookseller.

6) Remembering Ivor Cutler - 23rd March

A brief eulogy of a favourite writer, who I had just discovered passed on a year since.


7) A haiku with a classical reference - 23rd March

One of my best haiku, I think - inspired by an image in Homer's Odyssey.

8) The Temple - 22nd March

A hymn of praise for my favourite pool-playing pub ever.

9) Dialogue with a Search Engine - 18th March

A strange piece of cyber-idiocy prompts some philosophical musing.

10) HBH 20 - 16th March

An old, old haiku resurrected as an evocation of the aftermath of parties.

11) Hot off the press..... - 12th March

A humorous poem, but - as is usually the case with me - it has a dark heart; and on this occasion I was posting it within minutes of composition.

12) Mulligan's - 8th March

Another poem, another Lost Love - memories forever associated with my favourite bar in Dublin.

13) Wine Lake - 7th March

Stressed out by my party endeavours, I indulge in a RANT against some of my more thoughtless guests (well, one in particular!).

14) Snapshot of a fleeting brainstate - 4th March

A thumbnail description of the after-party mellow.

15) One Night in New York - Take 2 - 1st March

A poem about the greatest of all my Lost Loves, 'The Evil One', and an account of how it came to be written.

16) Early retirement - 26th February

My ex's renunciation of a social life prompted me to write a poem, 'Off Parties'.

17) The Seven Stars - 25th February

An anecdote from my days at Bar School: fond memories of a great friend from those days, and the wonderful bar we used to hang out in together.

18) The Wake - 22nd February

A final visit to a significant bar from my childhood, and a maudlin farewell to my late brother.

19) A blast from the past - 20th February

I rediscover an old poem about a Great Lost Love; this one really was originally written down on a napkin in a bar.

20) This week's bon mot - 11th February

I don't usually include any of the weekly bon mots in my 'best of' lists, but this line from H.L. Mencken is particularly fine.


21) Sometimes larking, usually darkening - 21st January

A strange micro-autobiography: how Philip Larkin (and an unknown literary competition contributor) saved me from a career as a lawyer.

22) Warped Genius - 18th January

I was delighted to happen upon this wonderfully oddball 'musical sculpture' project from Jem Finer (of The Pogues). I subsequently posted diagrams of the concept here and here.

23) Uncivilised Behaviour - 17th January

'Found humour' - an attempt to curb the riotous behaviour of Oxford undergraduates in the 19th Century.


24) When Unsuitable Role Models Collide - 17th January

Wistful musing on a meeting between two of my musical heroes, Tom Waits and Jem Finer.


25) In defence of my 'love life' - 14th January

Responding to some abuse from a passing 'troll', I describe my views on drink, alcoholism, and romance rather more fully than I have before. The comments on this one are pretty interesting too.


26) Perversity - 13th January

A short poem on the strange, masochistic pleasures of vainly 'window-shopping' for a girlfriend.


27) Valuable Drinking Time - 9th January

There are two kinds of Time: Regular Time and Valuable Drinking Time.

28) 'S Latin, innit? - 7th January

My Classical education raises its head again: a poem inspired by an incident in Virgil's Aeneid.

29) To be reborn - 4th January

A few words in praise of memory loss - and an outline for one of my proposed novels.

30) A Resolution (?!) - 1st January

The Inuit have a word for it!