Walking the Guild Wheel A guided circular walk around some of the prettiest parts of the city of Preston in Lancashire, using public transport to break the journey into four parts.

Whilst being weighed, Pete the hog took a peep at today's Lancashire Post which features an extract from Great Hedgepectations. All proceeds from the book go to Leyland Hedgehog Rescue. www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Hedgep...

Rockfall on Heartbreak Hill A lack of appreciation for a 'missing' Strawbs album.

A ghost story to chill the owners of the (former) Punch Bowl pub near Hurst Green in Lancashire, who demolished the listed building and refused to rebuild it. Published in last Saturday's Lancashire Post.

One year on from the unearthing of Modern Gothic, the spooky season is about to resurface. Sample some here: uneasywords.com/2024/11/11/o...

Harris and Gromit A response to the unwrapping of a refurbished museum and the grand unanimated marvels within. Plus a hunt to rediscover a mythical lover.

Concentric thoughts on war-makers from an arachnid.

A pedantic plea, that is probably too late, and warning to fellow scribblers, editors and publishers.

Making Myra has experienced a spike in sales since its cameo in the recent BBC documentary about the Moors Murders. Here's a post from 2018, explaining how and why we staged it. uneasywords.com/2018/03/23/making-making

Still available for purchase and performance. www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Myra-...

14 years ago I wrote a play about Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Last night I discovered that Brady had obtained a copy. I'm obliged to a former Drama student for informing me. I was planning on watching the programme on iplayer, and I'm not sure I'd have survived the shock if I'd not been forewarned.

Dave Cousins: poetry in lotion Earlier this month, singer-songwriter Dave Cousins died. There are many obituaries out there. I will not add to those. This, instead, is an attempt to explain how and why his work became vital to my spiritual searching, my creative impetus, my imaginary plundering…

And here are my thoughts on The Talents, by Carl McGarrigle: uneasywords.com/2022/07/07/t...

Tea and owls with Carl McGarrigle, author of the truly original fantasy The Talents. Tea and owls are in book 2.

Today's Lancashire Post contains my latest tongue -in-cheek cultivation. The satire is probably only appreciated by those who have seen the great serpent of tuber-chewers snaking across Preston flag market and slithering into the labyrinth of social media to erupt from the tummies of PNE players.

David Cousins, the single biggest influence on my creativity, died this morning aged 85. Some understanding of his influence can be gained from my September 2020 blog about the band he fronted: uneasywords.com/2020/09/27/savouring-strawbs/ I snapped the picture of Dave at Salford Uni in 1978

Cool off with something swiftly citric. www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Lemon-Pe...

Thanks to everyone who purchased Great Hedgepectations after the reading from it at Chorley Theatre this week. Your full purchase spend has been deposited in the funds of Leyland Hedgehog Rescue.

Eight hundred years of trading, two kids and a time-travelling shopping trolley. The story of Gertie and the Guild Machine, a play for children about Preston Guild.

Two weeks tonight, I'll be telling a tiny bit of a story in Chorley.

From Papercuts: www.amazon.co.uk/Papercuts-sh...

The Male Fern. Plucked from The Atheist's Prayer Book. Snapped at sundown in The Unspoken Garden.

Did a touch and go at Halfpenny Green Airfield, where I learned to fly 51 years ago while an air cadet. It was a personal highlight that has featured little in my fiction, but watch this airspace. Maybe.

Flying babies and fledging thoughts.

From 'Hellfire Blues' one of Dave Cousins' anti-war songs. From 'The Boy in the Sailor Suit' album inspired by his father, who died in a submarine.

Philosophy, creativity and Rickerly: uneasywords.com/2025/04/24/reasoning

Why creative people do it. and why you should do it too.

Preston folk singer Brian Dewhurst (later known as Brian Preston) on the cover of his 1977 album, the title of which is a smug boast that I would very much like to reestablish in the vernacular.

This response to a Scandinavian residency is mischievous in its charm. A zesty zine. Available at the moment only from @davidhartley.bsky.social

The mining bees are back in business.

Spent the afternoon upcyling Sunday supplements into book gift bags, ahead of next Sunday's visit to Buckshaw Village in Lancashire, to help promote their hedgehog project.

My latest blog outlines how helping hogs raised expectations. uneasywords.com/2025/03/07/a...

Every year at this time, our water feature becomes, depending on your point of view, either a love nest, a brothel, a maternity ward, or a pre-Raphaelite nymph pool.

When I told the Head of Art that I was planning a musical inspired by the work of Jack Vettriano (who has just died), she cringed, but her staff and students helped to bring about the most stylish show I ever worked on. Read about it in this from 2018 : uneasywords.com/2018/11/20/swinging-with-the

A very old companion was delighted to get his paws on this lovely book today. Manchester and High Peak people could find out more about book and bear from author and host at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/serenity-boo...

This is Eden who came to us for foster care in November weighing just just 500 grammes. Here she is back at Leyland Hedgehog Rescue prior to being released last night, weighing over 830 grammes. Wherever she goes will be a garden of Eden.

Sometimes the trickiest bit is negotiating the negotiators.

Listening to a pod cast on paving.

Fifteen years ago this month we took a teenage Shakespeare back to Hoghton Tower in Lancashire where he allegedly spent his gap year in the sixteenth century. uneasywords.com/2018/11/28/w...

How thrilling to see this little bundle of tales in such a historic location.

Joan Littlewood dismissed the traditional view of directing, and said that she hated ‘acting’ by which she means the pretence that can all too often be seen and which cloaks the truth of the character. She claimed her only contribution was to ‘grow’ a show, but by doing so, in the ways that she did,

So sad, picked up a couple of rarities here in recent years.

An extract from Ice & Lemon, a work from 2012.

Today's Lancashire Post features a little fictional snippet inspired by an overnight stay whilst promoting Modern Gothic: www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk/product-page...

The historic Lancashire port of Glasson Dock today. Still undergoing repairs to the sea gate, and will be for some time. One of several things that have changed since my blog of 2021. uneasywords.com/2021/08/20/g...

Music from a masked person I've known all his life. #3 Chained. Close eyes & breathe deep. rickerly.bandcamp.com/track/chained

It's that 'think about summer holidays ' time again. Here's my nudge to not overlook the county I find so inspiring. uneasywords.com/2024/01/23/u...

This is Holly, our latest convalescing guest in association with Leyland Hedgehog Rescue. She's number 13 and here is doing her best impression of a snowball.

Song by John Ford and Richard Hudson written, not last week or last year or ten years ago, but half a century ago.

If you've ever enjoyed (or tolerated) a 'workshop', you can thank (or blame) theatre pioneer Joan Littlewood, who coined the term "theatre workshop" in 1945.