John Baker’s Blog

I guess she was half black, but what do I know. She was head and shoulders taller than me. Straight hair, waxy chocolate complexion, in need of something to give her system a kick.
The Habit gets some tourists but most of the regulars are locals who like the coffee or the chat, and they do [...]

Danny had the English disease and began his days with a ritual designed, not to cure it, but to make its indignities bearable. He left Jody in bed and swilled his face with water from the cold tap in the bathroom. He scratched the sleep from the corners of his eyes and poked at the [...]

You could call it unproductive. I had to go into town early to deliver something (don’t forget, plant the mystery in the first paragraph, if possible by the second sentence). It was already hot but there were thunder-heads around so I took an umbrella and by the time I got to Parliament Street the backs [...]

After breakfast in town this morning I met Rory Motion in Walmgate, trapped in a pink blizzard of spring Apple Blossom.

Rory Motion is an existential loner, a stand-up comedian and he was reading The Guardian as he trudged through the whirls of petals on the sunny-side of the street. I was on the shadow-side but [...]