Author Archives: alisomnia

So here comes winter and they’re all off to Mexico again. I can’t figure out why they go bonkers here on this island when you mention bridges, then they fly south for hours to get one. We the stay-behinders, the burst-pipe hunters, the mail monitors, demand validation with a suitable label. Long winters have weContinue reading “Flyers”

I heard a nice meteorological chappie yesterday talking about the “atmospheric river” BC is currently experiencing. I listened carefully. We’ve all been feeling like we might just get washed into the Salish Sea if it doesn’t stop raining soon. It seems September and October of this year have had 200% of the usual rain, andContinue reading “All Aboard For Unnecessary Mountain”

A great video for Remembrance Sunday. https://www.facebook.com/pilotspublishing/videos/300361371954108/ Written and performed by Keith Hale, additional vocals by With Sun, Remix by Josie Lloyd-Wilson and visuals by Traegami.

Remembering on Remembrance Day It is Remembrance Day, and I am remembering. I’m not old enough to have lived through the Second World War, but I am old enough to remember those who did. My parents, for example – perhaps yours too. I remember the adult conversations, memories woven into our growing up by the olderContinue reading “Remembrance Sunday”

When I am Prime Minister I am going to see to it personally that an extra hour is installed in every day. This particular day is Sunday November 1st, and I have yawned and stretched lazily in my warm bed, chaired a meeting between my two cats (no mean feat since they are violently opposedContinue reading “Sleepers Awake! Then Go Back To Sleep Again”

I must admit that I’m getting a little bit jealous when I see all the folk clubs and even small folk festivals that that are starting to happen in the UK. The real world is beginning to make an appearance. It makes me think about all the UK festivals I went to in the 1990s.Continue reading “All Other Districts”

In the first part of our “Introduction to etticatte,” we covered how to handle alterCATions, how to behave when going out to dinner, the correct way to manage introductions and greetings, acceptable behaviour with regard to someone else’s kittens and generally how to behave with discretion. Today we move on to some more challenging topics,Continue reading “Introduction to eticatte (2)”

If I were to ask you, “what is soup?” you might say “it’s what I used to be in when I didn’t do my school homework or when I hit my little sister over the head with a model train.” You might also say that it was a kind of wettish stuff you slurp outContinue reading “Political soup”

According to my Junk email folder, in just two weeks I have made CAD$32,785,000, £11,900,952 and US$4,740,870,000.00 (what, no cents?) Really! It’s true! First there is a loan offer of US$1 million, then £850,000 from a Dr. Barry Fowler of Nokia, then $25 million from Mr. Mohamed Abudo on the staff of the Bank ofContinue reading “High Jinks in the Junk (1)”

Do you know, it’s a strange thing, but library issue desks seem to have got lower and lower since I was a child. Has anyone else noticed this? There I was at the age of 8, staring up at the top of this enormous wooden edifice, over which a hand was reaching for my chosenContinue reading “About that island…”