Travels Through An Imaginary Landscape

I stumbled out of my appointment with Dr Pierce in something of a daze, a succession of ineffectual phrases about ‘taking responsibility for your emotions’ and ‘finding the courage to be honest with yourself’ ringing in my ears. I didn’t feel quite ready to head straight back to my flat but instead drifted rather aimlessly for a bit. And so ,about twenty minutes later, seemingly without any conscious effort on my part, I found myself strolling across Clifton Green towards the bench upon which I had been seated when Michael had first bounded up to meet me all that time ago. Continue reading →

It’s hard to say just how long I sat motionless on the bed, struggling to come to terms with my sudden and unexpected shift in location, but it was probably quite some time. Whilst I sat there I carefully examined the details of the room, just to confirm that I really was now in my bedroom from back home. But everything seemed to be exactly the same as I remembered – there was the same jumble of books on the bookshelves, the same out of date laptop drowning beneath a sea of papers on the desk and the same photos pinned up on the wall alongside. Continue reading →

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed but forests can have rather a strange habit of creeping up on you unawares. I mean, one minute you’re wandering along what appears to be no more than a moderately tree-lined path, minding your own business, then the next thing you know you find yourself completely surrounded, branches and foliage assailing you from all directions. When Michael and I had set off on our current trek in search of civilisation, having been deposited by the inter-dimensional travel drive in the midst of who-knew-where, getting lost in a forest had not been part of the plan. Yet now, as I glanced around to see nothing in view but an ever-thickening tangle of trunks and branches, I had to conclude that lost in a forest was undoubtedly where we were. Continue reading →

I waited until I was quite sure that the ground had stopped moving before opening my eyes again. When I did there was nothing to see but a thick cloud of choking dust all around me. My legs seemed to have given way for I found myself sitting unexpectedly on the floor and it was only when I put my hand out to heave myself back up and felt the sharp nick of broken glass that I realised my lamp must have shattered. Continue reading →

Dawn was just sneaking over the lower slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountain as we stood the next morning outside a large white tent on the edge of the miners’ camp. “Nobody gets on the mountain without the Grishams say so,” Clarence had warned us and this was the place we came to plead our case. The tent was sturdier and brighter than all the others round about but I was still inclined to feel that whoever had hammered a broad plank of wood bearing the legend, ‘Grisham Mining Corporation Headquarters’ into the ground before the entrance was guilty of a touch of aggrandisement. Continue reading →

We stood in a row on the veranda of the Saloon Bar and gazed at the towering mountain that loomed in front of us. Under the lowering sun it appeared rather more grey than blue and it was difficult to pick out anything as definitive as a ridge along its craggy sides, suggesting that more than a little poetic licence had gone into its name. But then who would be interested in a place called Craggy Grey Mountain? Continue reading →

The truck bounced along the dusty road with Michael and I perched on the back surrounded by crates of fruit and vegetables. It had seemed only right to grant Colonel Pendlebury the one available seat beside the driver. It was now almost four days since we had left Constantinople and it seemed the further we progressed towards our destination the more limited our transport options became. For this, what we hoped would be the last stage of our journey, we had been reduced to hitching a lift with Frank, who drove his battered delivery truck between the more remote towns of the region. Continue reading →