This novel by Stephen King was released in 2011 and I bought it straight away. I remember because I think it might have been one of the last books I read before I got ill (crazy stuff) and my world changed forever; a bit like how the world changed forever when JFK was assassinated in Dallas on the 22nd November 1963 - which provides the crux around which this novel revolves, and the contentious question of... If you could change the past, would you? Should you? It's a great q

Spring is here (allegedly) and it's time for me to awake from my winter slumber, my hibernation, and kickstart a more regular blog write for 2024. I do admit to feeling rusty as another year creeps by and I welcome the age of 55. That's beginning to get up there now, isn't it. My body tells me it is, even if my mind stays at an evergreen mental age of around four-and-a-half. What to write? In the coming weeks I'll likely post a review of 11.22.63 having just finished watching

I was really looking forward to this film, but then at its release a lot of historical purists were quite vehement in their disappointment. As a result I decided not to go to the cinema, but wait until the film was available through Firestick, and more affordable to me. I also decided to approach it as a Hollywood-style retelling - full of artistic license, fictional niceties, and one eye closed to historical facts - rather than getting annoyed at historical minutiae. After a

One week into the New Year and I finished reading another book. It was Fairy Tale by Stephen King, and this is the second book finished since challenging myself (I have a poorly drawn brain) to get back into my love of reading. It took me three days shy of two months to read it, but I'll take that. And I have another book ready to go - a present for Christmas - Circe by Madeline Miller. So, what did I think of this second book in my back to reading marathon? Here we go; A rev

I recently shared a post about 'Galley Hill and the Hangman's Gibbet'. The post focussed on prominent hills with this name (in the UK) often having been chosen as locations for gallows, from which victims were grotesquely displayed for all to see. A reminder of break our laws and, well, this could be you! Nice. Anyway, and as a result of reading the post, one of my friends on Threads (thanks Sam) told me about 'Dule Trees'. It was a term I'd never heard of, but it turns out t

Sutton is a beautiful little village in Bedfordshire. Very small. Indeed, it has a population of just 299, or thereabouts. It has a medieval church, once had a castle, and has a single pub called 'The John O'Gaunt', which is known locally for its fantastic food. It pretty much straddles a single road that crosses Potton Brook through a picturesque ford. This road was allegedly a major route for the medieval wool trade as it linked the City of Bedford and the west to the rich

At the age of 54, coming up 55, this may not sound a lot to brag about, but today I finished reading 'Danny the Champion of the World' and I am so very happy. You see as a lover of books, one who used to read every day, I've not read a book for a very long time - though I did manage the Silmarillion last year (I think). Every time I start a book my brain struggles to remember what it reads - be this because of my mental illnesses or the tablets I rattle with, I'm not really s

The BBC are producing some pretty good investigative paranormal programmes at the moment. The most recent is UNCANNY, a transition of a podcast into a television programme. Hosted by Danny Robins, it's translated pretty well into the televisual arena with what I assume was a pilot series of three episodes to test the waters. It approaches encounters with an open mind, investigates the history and background, and leaves final decisions on validity up to the audience. It's a go

Podcast...? I'd never listened to a podcast until this year. Up to now my listening routine featured football commentary on the weekend, old albums on my iPod (yes - I still use mine - I love it), and my wife. I do listen to my wife. Always. Though it doesn't often go in. But this year, prompted by my interest in the ghosts of Potton Wood, I listened to my first ever podcast by the newly launched Weird in the Wade. And it's brilliant. Produced, scripted, researched and voice

I'm going much further afield today for a ghost story. You see, I used to live in Australia - for a good ten years when the kids were wee bairns - in a beautiful northern suburb of Perth, called Mindarie on the west coast and overlooking the Indian Ocean. There lie white sandy beaches, an awesome marina, great food, good beer, and a crowd of lovely folk from all over the world. But so too, if one looked north from the beaches at Quinns Rock, there rose the large, dark, broodi