In 1945, John Steinbeck wrote one of his best-known novels, Cannery Row, which was set in and around a street in Monterey, California. The cold but nutrient-rich waters, with abundant plankton along the California coast, attracted millions of pilchards (a larger form of sardine), and a huge fishing industry flourished. Anyway, in the mid-1940s, due […]
Why did I decide to write a separate blog for my last visit to France? For two reasons: firstly, there wasn’t enough space on the previous blog, but more importantly, because visiting Cannes for the Film Festival was like a visit to the United States superimposed over this delightful French city. Fortunately, little pieces of […]
Rattling around in my head, looking for a new blog, I came up with an unexpected idea. Since the age of nine I have visited France no more than four times, but there’s something about France and its people that has always fascinated me. So, today I’ve decided to revisit, in my head at least, […]
Writing about my wife Hero in my last blog, sparked off memories of the times we visited Mozambique, where her parents lived. It was and is a very different place from anywhere in South Africa and is located on the northern border of South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province on the East coast. Its climate, its […]
From time to time with these blogs, I’ve mentioned my wife Hero but have not really written anything about her. It’s about time I did; so, here we go! Hero Falas was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, of Greek Cypriot parents. Her father Dr. Zacharias Falas was born in the village of Rizokarpaso, Cyprus. He […]
Over the years, I have been bombarded by others with so many wonderful and some not so wonderful stories that I was assured would make great movies. For some time, my stock answer had been, “I have an endless fund of my own ideas, I really don’t need to be given any more.” I think […]
Have you reached your tipping point? If so, which way will you tip? We are globally at that tipping point. I’m not talking about taking any particular political side wherever you may be -– that’s your choice. Frankly, all political philosophies have both strong and weak points, and sadly the weaker points are on display […]
Like so many people I’m speaking with, I’m reluctant to put the word “Happy” before “New Year,” so I’m settling for a “Better New Year” to all of you with a determination to change “Better” to “Happy” just as soon as possible. It’s tragic to see that the emotional level of virtually everyone around us […]
As we all sit in our little boxes called homes and wish for a Christmas without tiers, as in the British tier system of lockdowns for COVID-19, our sense of space has been severely restricted. There was a time, not long ago when one could look up at the sky and wonder. What’s up there? […]
The whole point of being a creative writer, or a creative anything for that matter, is to have the freedom to create. I had earlier experienced the frustrations of advertising copywriting. This required writing to a usually quite vague brief, then be subjected to often devastating critiques by the account executive who had given the […]