Jeni Barnett

We made the decision to go to the seaside. The weather forecast was sun and more sun even though it was a bit chilly. Enjoying the chillyness takes my mind off global warming, We set off, and because of Scamsgate, we had to take cash that was stashed – to buy petrol – which has … Read more

The tip tapping of rain on the kitchen skylight it’s like being in a tent. The cat’s asleep on the bed. The old git’s asleep in the bed. I’m downstairs listening to the rain and recovering from yesterday. It’s nearly 2.30a.m. and we’re both recovering from yesterday. The old man got a phone call at … Read more

Today I walked. The sun was warm and everything felt pink. I wandered down through huge firs and up through a field that had been recently ploughed, all darkly earthy and wormy. I pootled down the avenue tripping over shiny conkers that had split out of their spiky shells. I walked and talked to myself … Read more

I had to walk away from the news tonight. The slaughtering of pigs, of hunting hounds, the slaughtering of people. I had to walk away from the broadcasting of yet more pain and misery. I turned my back on melting snow and forest fires. I had to leave the images of volcanic dust and burned … Read more

My grandmothers’ under arms swung with the effort of scrubbing the kitchen table. She used a big wooden brush with big bristles dipped in boiling hot water, back and forth she worked until the wooden table looked clean enough to eat off – which we did. After a long walk I took the fruit bowl, … Read more

I suppose you could say that as a YID, Tottenham Hotspur was always going to be my team. Ok I know that calling my self a YID is sententious, tendentious and a tad contentious, but like Bagels I am a product of the East End of London, and though being called a YID was both … Read more

Is there anything worse than a greedy person? Greedy people that have a lot and don’t want anybody else to have even a wee bit of it. Greedy people who own houses and yachts but can’t find it in their hearts to give away even one part of it to poor people who have nothing. … Read more

So fatootsed am I that I missed a party I was looking forward to for a month, so discombobulated am I that my God-daughters’ mum came, she had nowhere to sleep so the dawter decided to stay at her Godmothers’ so she could free her bed up. She was happy to stay 16 miles away, … Read more

Some years ago I bought the old git an air rifle. Not that either of us are into killing squirrels, rabbits or pigeons, it was more of a recreational nod at his past, since being a Northern lad his community thought nothing of leaving the mill and wandering the moors to bag their dinner. “Where’s … Read more

Six o’clock was the time to settle down for a couple of hours of news. The BBC, ITV, Channel four, all with their version of events. Not any more. I cannot watch reports from around the world without crying. I am not an historian, politician or commentator, I am merely an old lady who gives … Read more