Connection men

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

In Russell Hoban’s extraordinary post-nuclear novel Riddley Walker, there are characters known as ‘connection men’, storytellers whose job it is to try and piece things together, reinforce the codes that bind their small communities, and at the same time make … Continue reading →

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Reading matters

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

A circular from the Society of Authors dropped into my inbox yesterday morning. Although the theme was not a new one, I stopped and read it carefully. The Society of Authors is the unaffiliated trade union that represents around 9,000 … Continue reading →

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Catwalk talk

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Ten days ago I went to my first ever catwalk show. It was my daughter Anna’s finale at Bristol School of Art, Media & Design, where she has been studying fashion design for the last three years. I really wasn’t … Continue reading →

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Hurley burley

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

The hurlymans are still with me (see Day of the Door). I’m on my way back from Cornwall where I have just spent four days in a house overlooking an entirely deserted sweep of beach with no other human habitation … Continue reading →

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Train of thought

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

While waiting for the train this morning I was speaking to a recently retired neighbour who now lives most of the year on the Greek island of Skiathos. ‘They’re really in a bind now,’ he said. ‘I know,’ I said. … Continue reading →

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The Day Of The Door

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On Monday evening as I walked round the Other Worlds exhibition at Oxford’s Story Museum and marveled at the creativity that had gone into the 25 installations, the thought I kept returning to was the astonishing power of our imaginations … Continue reading →

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Other Worlds

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

This coming Monday evening the whole of Rochester House, the old Oxford central telephone exchange and mail sorting office, will come alive after many years of disuse. Its three rambling, empty buildings, linked around a courtyard, will fill with people … Continue reading →

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Tongue-tied

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

It’s unpleasant to feel a language slipping from one’s grasp. There was a time when I was a confident French speaker. I was taught it very well at an early age by an inspired teacher who showed us large pictures of … Continue reading →

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La Maison du Kilt

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Here’s a good air travel story, for a change. My wife and I are currently en route for a wedding in Corsica. The bride’s parents are my wife’s oldest friends, Hughes and Caroline. He’s French, she’s English and they live … Continue reading →

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Father and son

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Today, 29th March, is my son Jake’s twenty-first birthday and I’m not at home with him. I very much wish I was. Instead I’m deep in the Northumbrian countryside at Highgreen Manor, home of William and Cynthia Morrison-Bell, running a … Continue reading →

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