Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 56 We are very pleased with our selections — We walk back to the hotel beside the moonlit river, we stop, quite often, to cuddle, to kiss; this is one more good night, in one really wonderful life. …

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 55 Oh, so do we carry on with writing talk I ask — With talk of meditation out of the way we move on to writing; I say to Dinah that her letters show, to me at least, that she seems really comfortable with writing. She has a good vocabulary, a fluency which comes from her easy mastery of grammar, also she uses…

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 54 I worked out a further test of compatibility — I am indebted to Berys Gaut at the University of St Andrews for his work The Philosophy of Creativity. Distance, and creativity, are going to be two of the underlying themes as our Story moves forwards. Quoting directly from Berys’ abstract, I hope you agree, provides some food for our…

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 53 I don’t know what you make of his plans — What if you spoke to me, would it be like being a teenager in school again, wondering if Hazel Walters might go out with me. …

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 52 Will I be strong, will I change — Next morning I am sat in the airport, my flight is delayed by mist, and by fog, which I hear has also snarled up the highways. I am in no hurry. I sit, I gradually allow myself to fall into a contemplative state. What have I done, how on earth…

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 51 I begin Wednesday’s therapy session by explaining — I am in work early Monday morning, I fly to Berlin on Thursday, I will take time to get to know the city, before my first meeting the following Monday. …

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 50 But I wasn’t at one, I wasn’t at ease — The society around me couldn’t get through to me; eventually the easiest path was to discard me, to forget about me, which looking back didn’t help me, nor did it help anyone else either for that matter. Do schools now take psychology and philosophy more seriously; have we moved on…

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 49 I misread the absoluteness — This morning my poem begins: Without you How I love you With you so so far away How I pull you close I was smiling as I plucked away at these words, slimming them down, drawing them out, expanding them to try for greater clarity, finally returning to the simple…

Novel: Times 1–4, Chapter 48 She talks about the scientific approach — I pick Hildemar up at five, we are walking through the marshes to her chalet by seven; all is quiet, I want to tell her what a bitch her little sister has been, but I don’t. …