I’m in Budapest drinking some local cocktail that includes Unicum. My hat is slightly askance as is my head. A jazz quartet is playing to my left and the traditional Hungarian meal, including a chilled blackberry soup as starter, is good. It’s 2020, my mother has just died and the pandemic is about to kick in. The hat I’m wearing gets stolen two years later in a small cafe near Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium as I eat a Full English breakfast with writer, artist and cultural icon Simon Strong.

after the rain
every drain is blocked
with fallen leaves

Life goes on.

Paul Conneally
16th October 2024