Fiction
The Empty Road
By Margaret Jennings Madie dressed in slouchy trousers and an old tee shirt. No work today. No work for an unknown amount of her future and she was determined to stay healthy. A walk with [… read more ]
trees
Poetry
Earth Poem
By Helen Salsbury Bats flittering in a twilight sky. A deer, holding still on an empty lane, as with quiet cycle wheels, I draw closer. Birds I’ve never seen before, on a [… read more ]
Memoir
In the Shadow of the Oak
Wendy Metcalfe finds an oasis of peace just off the beaten track. One of the things I decided to do during lockdown was extend the amount of walking I did every day. Before lockdown that would [… read more ]
Memoir
It Started With a Timid Message
Charlotte Comley considers the mental health implications of lockdown. The supermarket shelves were empty and people were selling toilet rolls on Amazon. And then, on the 23 March 2020, Boris Johnson told the country that [… read more ]
Fiction
Bun Penny
By Margaret Jennings When I was a child, my mother gave me a bun penny and told me that whenever I found myself in trouble I should ask Queen Victoria what to do and she [… read more ]
Memoir
Stream
S&C Community Reporter Andrew Larder muses on the state of nature in Portsmouth during lockdown. Sometimes I wish my neighbour Frank had never mentioned the underground stream that runs by my house. Frank and his [… read more ]
Memoir
A Borrowed Arboretum
Novelist and short story writer Wendy Metcalfe finds an unexpected haven in which to get some work done. One of my quests during lockdown has been to find beautiful quiet places to sit and write [… read more ]
Culture
Hidden Places Around Portsmouth: Not Out of the Woods Yet
Local resident and photographer John Callaway gives us a glimpse into Portsmouth’s hidden places with his stunning photography. This week John heads off to the West Walk in the Forest of Bere with his dog Rufus. ‘Who [… read more ]
Poetry
The Fascination of Trees
Irene Strange. The Life in trees live on for ever Their gallant Spirit leaves them, never. In the trunk and boughs and roots Its inner Spirit endlessly shoots. Plundered and burned into the [… read more ]
Poetry
The Plane Tree
By Patricia J. Arnold. There you stand majestic tree Branches spread high over me I wonder how long you have stood in this place And what are your thoughts of the human race. [… read more ]