The three Petes of Thames Polytechnic
Pete Mendes, my personal tutor, may have spawned a brilliant filmmaker, Sam Mendes, but he never did a thing for me.
Maria C. McCarthy is in her writing shed
A second-generation Irish writer living in the Medway Towns, writing about everything from memoir to music, from poetry to short fiction
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest posts
Hearing voices
On finding a book at the right time, memories of hearing voices, and how writing saved my life
Money Talks
Differences in attitudes to money can make or break a relationship. How I transformed from money airhead to financially savvy
Three weddings, a divorce, and Heartstopper Forever
On watching movies with my granddaughter: Heartstopper Forever, The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Freakier Friday, and Mrs Doubtfire
Dreaming of alpacas
Plus the troublesome living and the troublesome dead
Bookmarks: in praise of stuff
There is joy in the physical object. The book read on the train. The vinyl album carried home on the bus, taken out of the bag to read the sleeve notes.
From Worthing to Weymouth
As our annual seaside holiday beckons, I look back on swimming, and avoiding swimming, in the sea
Hotter than July: Summer tunes and pop perfection
Give me 'Beach Baby' over 'Summer the First Time' any day
Faking it at football
My year following Gillingham FC, failing to grasp the offside rule, and being baffled by the triangle and diamond formations
Friends Reunited, 55 years on
A raucous afternoon with two old friends, and removing the trauma goggles associated with my childhood hometown
A priest in a chip shop and other poems of the ordinary
What the Liverpool poets taught me
Sister Anna's eyebrows
Nuns in make-up, empty coffee cups, ending phone calls without saying goodbye; annoying things in movies and TV dramas