Thoughts and words

Kultur Shock

It's 1989 - the year I returned to the UK after a long stay in Italy. After 13 years of seeing children treated like Jesus himself, the first thing I see in England is a piece of white trash walloping her little girl on the legs and shouting, "Shuddup you... Read more →

Lost Property - past and present in the same room

My novel Lost Property was partly inspired by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Germany between 2015 and 2017. Above all, my aim was to draw parallels between the current refugee crisis and the refugee crisis in post-war Germany. In 1945, Germany was in ruins and yet... Read more →

Christmas 1944 (in German and English)

Vater unser… Es war Weihnachten 1944. Mein Papa war Soldat und kaempfte irgendwo im Schuetzengraben fuer „Fuehrer, Volk und Vaterland.“ Eines Tages erhielten wir Post, die nicht erkennen liess, woher sie kam. Es gab ja nur eine Feldpostnummer. Mein Papa schrieb: Es besteht die Moeglichkeit, dass ich einige Tage Urlaub... Read more →

Walking and inspiration

I have enjoyed going for walks since I was a child. As an adult writer, I have discovered that the relationship between writing and walking is a close one but, until today, I have never given much thought as to what, exactly, that relationship is. It was, perhaps, no accident... Read more →

My Favourite Books

This is a very simple blog. It is a blog about my favourite books. I read them in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although I keep copies of these books at home, I will never read them again. So, why, I ask rhetorically, do I give them space on... Read more →

Learning a language in your twilight years

Is it worth attempting to learn a new language in retirement? Of course it is! But I would add that unless you are a sociable person who actively seeks to converse with others, your oral language skills will not develop as fast as you might like. Yes, you will be... Read more →

Why "Thoughts and Words?"

Why did I name my blog "Thoughts and Words"? Well, thoughts and words are related to one another. By this, I mean that a thought is not only expressed in words, it is also born of words. We could say that a word without a thought is a dead thing,... Read more →

The Letter

Initially, I did not recognise the individual in the photo. Nonetheless, I was curious as to which friend or relative had thought about me enough to send the letter. But there was no letter - at least, not a letter in the sense of a written message on printed paper... Read more →

Can Museums be Innocent. Yes, they can.

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk - I started reading it because I loved the title but it turned out to be one of the best books of the decade for me. A gem of a love story which, in a way, is also a hymn to the city... Read more →

I had a dream....

I had a dream the other day. And in this dream Gaza was famed for its wonderful beaches, Tel Aviv for its bookshops, Riyadh for its food and Tehran for its cinemas. Yes, I had a dream. And in this dream, the peoples in the Middle East, from Tel Aviv... Read more →