Entries by alaradesigns@gmail.com

Merry Christmas

Picture of the year so far is that of the Christmas tree in the centre of Aleppo. I’m certain it’s one none of us thought we would see any time soon, and it is wonderfully encouraging in a time of constant bad news and turmoil. I pray for peace for all the citizens of Syria, […]

Light Of The World

  I have administered over 100 flu vaccines this winter but of course did not bother to get one myself. So, guess what? Yep, I have the flu. You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh. Here I am surrounded by enough Pseudoephedrine to start my own Crystal Meth lab and I’m as high […]

Beyond Parody

A week of absurdities. First off the mark is the revered, indeed reverend Tony Blair informing us that he is ready to get back into politics, planning his comeback as an ‘insurgent’, to right all the wrongs which have accumulated since his much-lamented departure. I fear that reality and Tony are now complete strangers. However, […]

For All The Saints

A truly horrible week in what had already been a seriously trying year. One of my favourite aunts died suddenly this week. So suddenly that we never even got an official diagnosis for her illness before she died. I had lost touch with her for a long time because she moved far away from the […]

Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With […]