Author Archives: xmarksthespotno

“Ladies and gentlemen – this is your captain speaking. We are approaching the airport”. The engines hummed and the flaps on both sides of the plane flapped as if our lives depended on them. For a moment it seemed as if we were floating completely still in the air. The captain came on again; “The weatherContinue reading “The cabinet”

We’ve all been there. It was a time characterised by uncertainty and awkwardness. It was an existential period. Who am I? Who would I become? And daring to become who you are inside. Who would and should you be? Would one ever get into a position where it became natural to kiss a girl? OrContinue reading “Youth”

We were supposed to meet at five. It seems we met earlier and earlier the older we got. Ten or fifteen years ago we would have said eight o’clock in the evening. Not five in the afternoon. That wasn’t the only thing that had changed. George had a thing with flour he had to explainContinue reading “The old gang”

There was a lot of grey weather, rain and constant fog in the town I grew up in. As I remember it, it rained every day. Not all day, but several times each day. There was a smell of wet, salty, wellies, rain gear and damp wool everywhere in my childhood. Down by the harbourContinue reading “The scars we carry”

My mother often talked about the Fischer children. Always in a way as if she had something to do with their fate. She told the story with a guilty conscience. Every time with tears in her eyes. The Fischer family had a clothes store in town and were active in social life. Hermann and GustaContinue reading “Dare not to sleep”

When I was just a kid a suitcase was delivered to our house. I did not understand the significance of the suitcase or what it represented at the time. I saw it several times and every time it appeared it brought nothing but anger to our house. It contained clothes, but I could not understandContinue reading “The Suitcase”

It’s been 16 years now. 16 years since mum died. Being the collector that I am, I felt a responsibility that none of the old papers were thrown away until I had looked through them. My siblings did not feel the same need and threw everything they found unseen. But I was able to saveContinue reading “It´s in the last box”

We drove from Havana early in the morning. The roads were surprisingly good. Although there were horses, chickens, goats and big potholes on the Autopista Nacional, the trip went much better than the rumours suggested. After just over 200 kilometres we were able to check in at Villa Playa Girón. This was a two-star all-inclusiveContinue reading “All inclusive”

Some time ago I visited a friend who has a summer house on an island down south. He calls it a summer house, but he grew up here. The vast majority of the houses on the island were originally residential buildings.  Today there are not more than a couple of hundred people living on theContinue reading “The island”

A friend and I had a discussion over lunch the other day about books we have read and concerts we have attended. He told me about a recent concert where a woman next to him recognised him from another concert where she also stood next to him. The latter concert was a big event withContinue reading “Memory was a stranger”