| Back to Chapter 3 | Back to the beginning Kate leans over the parapet, fearful of what grisly sight will confront her. A broken body with limbs contorted at unnatural angles and blood pooling out onto the ballast? Or the smouldering, charred remains of a person swinging silently from the overhead lines? Craning her… Continue reading Chapter 4|The bridge
Chapter 3|Jude
| Back to Chapter 2 | Back to the beginning There is a bus stop a short way down the hill from the bookshop, and Jude joins the gaggle of passengers in the so-called shelter. (When it rains here, it usually rains sideways, and the shelter was clearly designed by someone who was only familiar… Continue reading Chapter 3|Jude
Chapter 2|Kate
| Not read Chapter 1 yet? The beginning is a very good place to start. Kate is a single mum, though she’s not too keen on having that pointed out by others. She’s certainly done the whole parenting thing all by herself, but the label ‘single parent’ has a stigma attached. If this is the… Continue reading Chapter 2|Kate
Chapter 1|Freyja
It’s eight o’ clock on Thursday morning – a cold, nondescript November sort of morning – and Freyja drags herself out of bed. The alarm clock first broke her slumber half an hour earlier, but Freyja has little enthusiasm for the day ahead. She would much rather slip back under the covers and back into… Continue reading Chapter 1|Freyja
Out of place, out of time, out of date?
Thrice recently I have had feelings of not fitting in – for different reasons. (I rarely get to use the word thrice! I wish there were a similar word for ‘four times’ too.)
Scottish Green Party reaffirms trans positivity
I’ve been a member of the Scottish Green Party since early 2014; for various reasons I hadn’t felt it important enough to nail my political colours to the mast before then. One thing I love about the party is its commitment to fairness, equality and inclusivity. As a trans woman, I was so pleased to… Continue reading Scottish Green Party reaffirms trans positivity
Emergency post: extended GRA consultation deadline
This weekend the Scottish Green Party holds its annual autumn conference, and I was looking forward to going along as a (mostly inactive) member to participate in its democratic decision-making process. But, for me, that has been overshadowed by the UK’s consultation on reform to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA), the deadline for which… Continue reading Emergency post: extended GRA consultation deadline
Unpost four: another hour
I’m giving myself a little less than an hour to write this off-the-cuff meandering piece of irrelevance. Why I should subject you to this is anybody’s guess, but I reckon a gap-filler like this might be better than nothing for someone. If you’re only here for my proper blog posts, that’s fine. Ignore this and… Continue reading Unpost four: another hour
I would go out tonight …
… but I haven’t got a stitch to wear! So croons Morrissey in The Smiths’ song ‘This charming man’, released in 1984. It was in that year, my first year at university, that I was introduced to The Smiths, and for some reason theirs were the first songs I’d really paid attention to for their lyrics.… Continue reading I would go out tonight …
Chinks of darkness: a visual postscript
In my previous post, I described how my mood had sometimes felt almost totally dark, but with occasional chinks of light breaking through, while at other times it had seemed almost relatively ‘normal’, except that there were chinks of darkness bursting up from somewhere. This is what depression looks like at times, when I’m in… Continue reading Chinks of darkness: a visual postscript
