Sam Redlark

crossposted from r/Imaginary London image generated by Craiyon It was a puddly Tuesday morning in late September. A gusting wind, that pushed and pulled in a multitude of directions, was blowing rain down from an opaque sky the colour of cathedral marble. The fallen leaves lay plastered against the wet pavement like loose pieces of hammered brass. They has scarcely settled before they were ground into paste by the relentless comings and goings of Londoners as they went about their business. “Good heavens!” exclaimed Patricia Bridge as we exited Gloucester Road Underground Station. A fur-trimmed leather glove, tailored to her exacting specifications from the hides of three different species of animal, pinned down a matching fur hat, that had already been blown crooked. Her right arm locked itself tightly around my bent elbow. I guided her underneath the awning of a nearby florists. During our excursion, I had unwittingly taken on the additional role of porter. The handles of her enormou...

This is my response to a question that appeared on the Notes & Queries page of The Guardian website on 6th November, 2022. The Guardian is apparently no longer happy to host my comments on their site, so it is appearing here instead. This blog is obviously not affiliated with The Guardian. Its reference to a question that appeared in Notes & Queries is presented here under the terms of fair use. ~ Why do cats, dogs and other carnivores have far neater and straighter teeth than humans? image generated by Craiyon “I was doing Bluetooth decades before the whole blooming world jumped on the bandwagon,” boasted Thomas Padginton. He opened his mouth, pulling back his lips as his jaws widened. It was like watching a big cat yawn away the hours of a hot and dusty afternoon on the plains of the Serengeti. We were thousands of miles away from Africa, having recently emerged from the vaulted subterranean gloom of Gordon's wine bar, onto Villiers Street, in Central London, where early-...

image generated by Craiyon This is my response to a question that appeared on the Notes & Queries page of The Guardian website on 4th September 2022 The Guardian is apparently no longer happy to host my comments on their site. I am replying here instead because it is too good a writing exercise to give up: How quickly can you go from a prompt, a blank mind, and a blank page to a finished piece? And how good can you make it? This blog is obviously not affiliated with The Guardian. Its reference to a question that appeared in Notes & Queries is presented here under the terms of fair use. ~ Should I let my cat outside? I am unqualified to answer this question and so have passed on your enquiry to a cat who occasionally visits our garden: “The ghosts of the birds I killed slumber deep in the sleek curl of my tail that I shaped to imitate a nest – the cradle of their beginnings and ends, now idly barring their entrance to the afterlife. While the afternoon drags it heels I pour from...