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More from America - The Bison Letters A Slice of American pie

A slice of American Pie  The writings of William Bison Well the most interesting thing upon waking in the USA was that it was not home, and that the bird song was different at dawn, that time of day when you are not asleep but wish that you could get back there. In this instance it was the piercing shriek of some strange bird outside of the window that trilled away for several seconds before stopping with a gargling sound. And then I woke up and found to my own horror that it had been me snoring. A habit that I had clearly hoped to have left behind with all the other baggage in the UK. It is strange being here and it is also true that things are different but slightly the same. Its these constant inconstancies that I love so much when I travel. The tooth past is Colgate but due to the heat here it does matter that I don’t put the top back on because it oozes out onto the surround of the basin. And why do they always have a tap that size waiting in the middle of the bowl to crack yo...
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Driving in America extract from Bison Letters (2009)

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In 2009 K my partner and I lived in the US for three months - I was there to try to finish writing my PhD but after a counselling session with Rev Anne the Episcaple minister, I decided that probably due to my acute dyslexia I just could not put things in a way that the academic world would be able to accept. Rev A told me my shoulders dropped by 2 inches at the thought of  stopping doing it. She found me a loverly guy called Harry P who took me fishing for steelhead in the wild river Rouge for some of the time there. I did write - some short reflections about my time there and American culture.  I have always been entertained by Gerhard Keller and his tails from Lake Woebegone and Jerom K Jerom's tale Three Men in a Boat  and tried to catch something of this in these short pieces, failing as much as I flailed in the US culture. Extract from A slice of American Pie – from the time I spent in Ashland Oregon USA   Driving in the USA   As a part of the whole new cu...
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living it the reflections of glory

I was reading Thomas Merton, well actually a book he had put together on the wisdom of the desert fathers (and mothers). And one thing led to another I came up with a whole host of things on the web, quotes from a lot of people. One was something about ‘if you are going over things that have happened then you are living in the past, if you are worrying about what is to come you are living in the future, but if you concentrate on what is happening to you in the now you are living in the moment’.   I thought about this for some time and can see some truth in it. I know that I will often not so much worry about things I am going to do but “big them up”, over think them and then become disappointed that they will never meet my expectations. So, I don’t do them. This seems to be over living through the future in not just living in a future.   I would like to think that I do live a bit more in the moment than that but probably don’t. I also came across a challenge to not be in any w...
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I wonder if you watched Adolescence on Netflix? I found it disturbing very moving and emotional. It is also TV at its best. (no spoilers) It opened my eyes a little to a whole world that I might have heard about in passing and showed up its link to the whole toxic world of social media (he says writing on social media :-)) What is illuminating is seeing how people comment on the program and I was surprised to find Gareth Southgate ex England Football manager commenting. Most of the comments I have read and I concede that this might just be my selective reading - has been women which is quiet right - but where are the male voices other than those toxic one's in Manosphere chat rooms? I tend to agree with Southgate about the use of mobile phones but also men need to start to sort themselves out - to begin to challenge the toxic representations - but also to be able to start seriously questioning "what dose it mean to be a man" Reported from the Gardian 22nd March 2025 “The...
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 Following the light is a series of pictures taken when I was drawn out because of the light. Mainly looking at contrasts in the evening or morning light in the seaside town where I live in Devon. One evening I was working in my office and noticed some of the cloud structures. I had tried to photo some of the sunsets before, some have unbelievable colour but never caught just what I wanted. I am an amiture photographer so these are very much as taken Light and dark are so important in our lives - binary contrasts but it is in  the in between places that potential is to be found - the what if's and could be's. The edge of darkness and light is the liminal place threshold where the worlds meet. Across vast expanse of sea the celts cast their skin covered coracle into the water and waited to see where the wind would take them - blown by the wind of the Spirit. There was little fear of what might cause them harm because to find such a place offered the holy task of "praying it...
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The big pothole I was walking back from the station and coming over the crossing noticing the hole in the road. I happen to think that with the chronic underfunding of well just about everything, but particularly in this instance the Devon County Highways department, about the hole I could see. A very obliging driver stopped watching me take a photo of it and then giving me the thumbs up as I crossed. It’s a bit difficult to see just how big it is.  My thinking turned to – you know those times when you hit a pothole. Travelling along and then an almighty thump as you realise that you did not see this hole in front of you and wonder what sort of damage it done/doing to wheels and tires. I am sure that I hear somewhere that the council have a fund that is more than the budget allocated for repairs, for compensation for the damage done and claimed for.   It made me think in the rather tangential way I do that this might be a familiar kind of feeling for me. Life just seems to be ...
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