sallygander

…trains of thought

65.Today you catch the train from Bath to Oxford, transferring your teaching self from one beautiful city to another. You haven’t done this journey for several years and you feel the anticipation of the bicycled streets and the lofty quads of University College. On your way to surprisingly ordinary classrooms, you hope to walk pastContinue reading “…trains of thought”

…things you have lost

64.You have lost the tattooed lemon that lived in your freezer for many years. The lemon was illustrated by your daughter during her apprenticeship, the waxy yellow skin bearing a swallow in vivid blue and yellow and red. It was one of the most precious things you owned, and was lost during a busy fewContinue reading “…things you have lost”

…marking the page

63.You sometimes read a book without thinking about the bookmark that holds your place. As you read, this strip of cardboard gets tucked into the back pages or casually discarded on the bed covers, seemingly dispensable for all its functionality. But when you begin a new book the feeling is deeper than practicality, starting asContinue reading “…marking the page”

…in praise of dreamers

62.Sometimes, when the rain comes, you take it as a sign to let the days arrange themselves. You and your lover wake up late, drink coffee in bed, listen to the pigeons skittering against the window. You eat breakfast after noon, tear olive bread and pour red wine, you read poetry and watch old films. Continue reading “…in praise of dreamers”

…birth of a story

61.Twenty-one years ago a new story was born. It is a classic story of birth and death, and the coming together of unexpected events. It begins with the news report that Air France Concorde flight 4590 has crashed in Paris, killing all 109 people on board. Your husband is a newspaper photographer so a fewContinue reading “…birth of a story”

…beginning with rain

60. RainWinter rain puts you in a funk. You wrap up against it, hat, scarf, raincoat, hating the cold and the low grey sky. But summer rain is an entirely different creature. The birds retreat to the shelter of trees but you go out with bare arms and legs, feel the warm drops on yourContinue reading “…beginning with rain”

…on shaping the earth

58. You stand on the seashore feeling the mutability of time. Under normal circumstances you would gaze at the steady horizon, trying to absorb the enormity of the ever shifting ocean. Its depth, its strength, its unknowable currents and flavours. Under normal circumstances you would be awed by the way it has sanded and pebbledContinue reading “…on shaping the earth”

…the last great day of May

57. It is the last day of May and we gather in the garden beneath the high sun, some of us meeting for the first time, some already old friends. Once we’ve eaten the collected treasures of olives and cheeses and harmonies of chocolate, we untangle ourselves to the drowsy lane, down to where weContinue reading “…the last great day of May”

…the slice of the knife

56. You enjoy the motion of the knife cutting, the smooth sweep of the wide blade as it meets the chopping board, your fingertips curled against the onion’s domed back. When you are done the dome is transformed into a heap of translucent cubes alongside a stub of woody stem. Soon the smell of heatedContinue reading “…the slice of the knife”

…mind games

55. Sometimes, you say something to your lover and a moment later he’ll ask you for a number between 1 and 100. This is because the thing you said was the thing he was thinking, and so now he needs to test this moment of cosmic connection. Very occasionally you get the number right, butContinue reading “…mind games”