There’s only one man I’d credit for being a positive role mole and influence in life, so much so that I took his name and used it in part for my pen name. That man is Walter S Christian. He was my maternal grandfather.

When my biological father (sperm donor) walked out the night before Mother’s Day. I was not even ten years old, and I didn’t really have a male role in my life, not that he was one before he left.

My grandad taught me so very much about what a gentleman should and shouldn’t do, from the little things like making sure your shoes were polished and you made an effort to look smart, to things such as helping your fellow man regardless of their faith or creed. He taught me the value of working hard, being honest, and above all being a stand up guy.

He was a retired firefighter and in his later years he’d become an excellent artist, sign-writer and gardener. He was always happiest in his shed or in the greenhouse pottering with his tomatoes. While I’ve never been very good either plants, I’ve certainly developed his love of a good shed, and can be found most weekends tinkering with something, writing poetry, or just watching the wildlife in my garden.

So I’ve spent the last 20 years or so writing and creating under the name that reminds me daily to try my hardest, do my best, and to be a decent person that honours his memory the best way I can.

Stay safe Bc

In December last year i said to Mrs Bob that 2025 would be our year, as I’d just bagged a spot in a brand new culture and literary magazine called Aeos,

My life has exceeded my expectations for these last 12 months. I’ve had great success with both my writing and photography. Mrs Bob and I have finally had the kitchen remodelled which wasn’t on the cards and has led to a spate of repainting and fixing things around the house. We have also had a massive clear out and now have a functional office we can share.

Personally my life hasn’t all been roses and chocolates. I had the unpleasant experience of having someone I thought I could trust, try to scam me out of £100 in store vouchers, so while it hurt me deeply I had to say enough was enough. I’ve also developed breathing issues which either stem from my heart condition last year, or asthma. We are waiting test results back.

So while I’ve had a very mixed bag of events this year, it’s safe to say that my life is better than I imagined it would be twelve months ago, and I’m excited to see what the next twelve months holds in store for us.

Check back in another year to find out…

Stay safe BC

There’s probably a couple of places I’d really like to visit.

One is Salem Massachusetts as it’s always fascinated me due its history with the witchcraft trials and the panic that it caused. Next up is the Antarctic circle as I’ve been to the arctic circle so I’d like to visit the other to complete the set. Finally the place I’d really love to visit but due to conflict etc is going to have to wait. The top of my bucket list is Pripyat.

This is a place many may never have heard of Pripyat. This was a town built from 1970 in parallel with the construction of the nearby Chernobyl nuclear plant. Initially it mostly housed the workers building the plant. Although since the reactor fire at the plant in April 1986 the whole area has become a ghost town for obvious reasons. The reason I’d like to explore the area is I love urban exploration and I find it fascinating to see like some post apocalyptic movie set what happens when people leave an area and nature takes back the area and humans are excluded.

I’m assuming that the prompt means when you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, so it’s how I’m going to answer it.

While I’d love to say something like he wrote some decent poetry or that my photography shows promise or some such flattering nonsense. It’s not what I’d like people to say about me. Sure it’s nice to be recognised for such talents but it’s not what I’m really about.

The one thing i hope people will say about me after I’m gone is that while I made mistakes and screwed up like most people. I had a good heart, and that I did things for the right reasons or the with the best intentions.

I’ve performed on stage many times at various poetry open mic nights and at a few literary festivals also, despite stage fright and all the joys of being neurodivergent. When I did perform I found that I couldn’t sleep, eat (or keep food down) due to the anxiety that it caused.

I tried a trick that Roy Orbison used to use to battle his crippling stage fright, (not that I’m in the same league as him) sunglasses. You see they create a barrier between you and the audience. This works extremely well and I used it right up until the pandemic as a strategy to cope with the stage lights (eyes are v sensitive to bright light) and other people. Unfortunately after that I decided that the anxiety’s effects both physical and mental were becoming too much, so I now settle for just writing poetry that appears in magazines, books and websites globally. This way I can still create some really great poetry and it reaches an even bigger audience without the health issues. I do miss performing and I hope one day to be able to return to the stage. Until then most of my (unpublished) work an be found on here.

My favourite physical activity is archery. I’ve been doing it on and off since I did a taster course in the midlands in the early 2000’s and I was hooked.

I have spent many hours and a lot of money on this sport, while I’m no Robin Hood I have had quite a lot of success. I’ve placed well in competitions and even became a member of The Sons of Archery, uk chapter.

While some might say archery isn’t exactly exercise or physical activity, I’d suggest you spend hours in the hot sun pulling back a string producing up to 60lbs of draw weight on only a couple of finger tips. I’d say why not look up your local club and try it out for yourself.

This is a very tough choice to be honest and it boils down to a toss up between two 80s cartoons that I remember as a child.

The first one has seen a massive rise in popularity over the years due to rebooting the toys and cartoons, then the big screen treatment courtesy of Michael Bay.

I still have a couple of the original G1 toys and I still have the complete animated series and original animated movie on VHS (what we had in the days before) fortunately I don’t need to explain the premise as it’s still a popular franchise in 2025.

The other cartoon was another Gen X Saturday morning show, or more during school holidays. It was called M.A.S.K (mobile armoured strike kommand) who had vehicle that transformed from say a motorcycle to a helicopter etc. MASK were the good guys fighting V.E.N.O.M (vicious evil network of mayhem) it was a cheesy cartoon created by Kenner to sell their action figures. Which I still have a couple of that I always wanted as a kid, tucked away safely.

Honourable mention

I can’t write about 80’s cartoons without giving a shout out to one of the other classics, whose action figures I got one year for Christmas. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. This was a quintessential 80’s cartoon action figure tie in by Mattel. This is another series that has been rebooted a few times. Including by the legendary Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) it was a tale of good He-Man and evil Skelator. Set on the planet Eternia.

The one one thing I, and probably if your honest you too could do less of is (probably) in your hand right now.

That’s right our mobile phones. Although the phone part of it nowadays is sadly a barely used feature, giving way to the thousands of apps we load onto them, the worst being. Social media. So we can see other people showing their unfiltered (there totally was) spontaneous shot (out of like 50) of the perfect life, we so don’t really have.

I make it a rule at the weekend to leave my phone etc in another room and totally disconnect from the virtual world and read a book, write, draw etc. it helps me to relax. We’ve become so dependent on our mobiles and reachable 24/7 which while in an emergency is great, it’s not ideal when you want some me time.

So let’s all try to leave our phone alone for a short period and spend time with a good book or tiddles the cat. Your online friends will still be there when you get back.

Stay safe Bc

We’re do I begin. The last twelve months have been super exciting for me and has given me lots of moments where I thought it couldn’t get better and the universe politely leaned in and said, “hold my beer”

Firstly in December last year a culture and literature magazine was launched in Scotland called AEos. I was lucky enough to be in that issue, with a piece called “The Illusionist”. I said to Mrs Bob it was the sign of a good year, and boy was I right.

This year I have been blessed to be featured in issues 1-4 (12/2025) of their magazine, which has in turn really got me more exposure.

I have also been involved in a couple of collaborations to raise money for different charities. One of which was a year long project.

I also had a piece accepted in a book about grief to help people who are recently bereaved. 

I’ve also (anonymously) collaborated with one of my hero’s to share ideas for the second No Kings day. That was a highlight for me, and also it was a chance to help other people.

So as you can see all of these events have made this year full of positivity, not always just for me.

I work at the side of the river Dart here in Narnia (Twinned with Totnes) there’s a 8-12ft bit of land with lots of trees between my office window and the river, with a field on the other side. So I see lots of different creatures on a daily basis.

There’s a family of 6-12 pheasants in the field over the river, which makes me happy as I love pheasants. one will usually shout as I get out the car. I’m sure it’s fluke, but some days a pheasant yelling. “You got this!” Is what you need to hear.

On the river it’s self there’s two swans very regularly and lots of ducks and seagulls washing and feeding at low tide.

Then there’s the menagerie of wild birds that come and sit on my office window from Robins, to Ravens and even a very tame pigeon or two. This is because I have a window feeder for the small birds and the larger (and small) can eat off the window sill feeder.

There’s more. I also have a lot of tame(ish) squirrels who at times will wait on the fence by my parking spot or sit watching me through the window. This may (or may not) be down to the supply of whole peanuts next to my desk and a squirrel feeder near my parking spot.

So as you can see I’m very blessed to have such beauty and nature at work. It’s very calming sometimes when it’s busy. I stop look out the window while I catch up on paperwork. It’s so grounding.