ALARIC MARK LEWIS

Last night I dreamt of my brother David, a rare appearance of someone whose presence in my life was, for many years, tangential. I can...

The first family dog I can remember was a basset hound by the name of Cleopatra. Judging from stories and photos, Cleopatra had been a...

On the 11th of November 2014, I was on a flight to Málaga for a formal visit to a church which had offered me a position there. Just...

On May the 11th 1972 my parents hosted an impromptu gathering. My brother David had turned nine two days before and there was a little...

Dear Dad, On Thursday, the 8th of May, 1975 – four days after my 9th birthday – I was beaten up at recess by a horrible bully. I remember...

When I was a child growing up in America in the 1970s there was a romanticism about the 1950s and early 60s that was all over popular...

I've just set out our recycling to be taken away. I never know the best time to do this: Do I put it out the night before and risk a...

Quite recently I have noticed two birds that have been visiting my balcony with increasing regularity. At first I thought they were...

For a couple of summers when I was in college I worked at a small diocesan Catholic newspaper. I accepted the job thinking it would be my...

A couple of years ago I was locking up at St George Tombland when a gentleman shouted “Wait a second!” from the street. I thought there...

In March of 2013 I was locking the church when I sensed that someone was right behind me. I turned around and, indeed, standing so near I...

In a parish where I served as a deacon there was a funeral choir, a group of elderly volunteers who provided the music for every single...

Quite frequently when I'm heading over to church to pray morning prayer, I encounter a guy sitting on a bench who is waiting for a mate...

Last week I received a message on this very website from someone named Viktor who lives in Chelyabinsk. At first I thought some friend...

One day last week I bundled up and went to sit in a frightfully cold St George Colegate Church to spend some time reflecting on the...

Just a few miles outside of Charlottesville, Virginia sits Monticello, the plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the...

I don't think I've ever lived in a place more filled with more eccentrics than Rome. I know there are eccentrics everywhere, of course,...

In April of 1972, my parents went to see Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. I was five years old (nearly six, I would have said was an...

Back in 1982 I was at golf practice when, quite suddenly, the blue skies all around us began to take on a more sinister colour - a...

The woman stood scanning the faces of the people walking out of the door for international arrivals. Upon arriving there herself she had...