Friko's World

At Grammar School my trials and tribulations hadn’t quite come to an end, but I learned to keep my head down and follow the rules. I was now...

Yes, there had indeed been a meeting, possibly the sort of thing that might be called an emergency council. We didn’t know about it at the t...

“You can’t just barge in here without an appointment”, he blustered. “This is my home and my family and I are about to eat our supper. If yo...

I caught a cold, a snot-rattling, throat-rasping, eye-watering, croaking-voiced cold. Fräulein Optenberg was certain the cold would be gon...

"I can’t stand a naked light bulb, amy more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action”, Tennessee Williams’ Blanche Dubois ...

Aunt Katie’s welcome smile ushered us in. The black and white tiled hall of the cottage was unheated. We shed our coats, hats, scarves and ...

In November the wide and fertile flatlands of the Northern Rhineland cower in the path of angry storms, which travel unimpeded for thousan...

I am from a poor people’s kitchen with a large table . . . . . .  What has happened to tables? In particular kitchen tables? What has ...

Thank you Karen and Pauline for recommending me, and thank you Hilary  for agreeing to let them. Molly  of The Molly Bawn Chroni...

Not easy, this writing lark. In fact, it's downright hard. For years I've translated other people's words, written reports for ...

Thank you everybody for commenting on the previous post about my intention to write a memoir. I'd like to say right away, that I won...