Category Archives: Stories

Death Café

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

On Monday evening Sarah and I went to a Death Café – which had nothing at all to do with salmonella sandwiches or arsenic-laced americanos. Rather it was a gathering of 20 or 30 strangers who had come together to … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Competing realities

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

This time last week, all being well, we would have been preparing to receive the novelist Philip Pullman as our guest speaker for the Dark Angels masterclass at Merton College, Oxford. Sadly, all was not well. Poor Philip had been … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Aqua vitae

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

Every two years we run a Dark Angels masterclass at Merton College, Oxford. I am there now. Three nights in a medieval Oxford college is in many ways a retreat from the world; but it’s also a sojourn in one … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Whose truth?

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

‘I thought it was Mum who had the idea for the bus, not Dad,’ said my brother, in response to my post here last week about our teenage hideout. It’s a common enough exchange between siblings, and one that surely … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Come to the edge

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

I spent the day in Edinburgh on Tuesday discussing the future of Dark Angels with Stuart and John at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Round one of our AGM, at Heathrow Terminal Five, three weeks ago, had proved insufficient for … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Winter spell

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

The last four days have felt like real winter. The thermometer has hardly risen above zero since I arrived here. The cold bites my cheeks as soon as I step outside and the snow crunches underfoot. Through the picture windows … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Three tales

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

Here are three tales. The first: I’m currently reading Robert Macfarlane’s best-seller, The Old Ways. It’s a hard book to describe but essentially it sets out his thoughts on how we shape landscape and it shapes us, as he follows … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Being different

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

Why are we so intrigued by people whose perspectives we don’t, in fact can’t, share? I’m thinking of the frequency with which movies, TV series and novels seem to serve up characters these days who sit somewhere on the autistic … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Wayfaring strangers

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

When I got home at lunchtime today there was a large and magnificent-looking book sitting on my kitchen table. It was warmly inscribed to me by its author, my close neighbour, Fiona Ritchie. Fiona is the presenter of The Thistle … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Caledonia dreaming

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

It hurts to see a dream extinguished. It hurts a lot. It’s taken me a few days to start to regain my equilibrium and it will take a lot longer to fully absorb what happened last Thursday. I believe Scotland … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments