Monsters Of Duplicity
I strode out shortly after daybreak to check my traps. I had set them up, two of them, on the edge of the woods, and as I approached in the milky morning light I was pleased to see that in … Continue reading
I strode out shortly after daybreak to check my traps. I had set them up, two of them, on the edge of the woods, and as I approached in the milky morning light I was pleased to see that in … Continue reading
ONE LOT : A SINGLE TUSK ONE LOT : TWO TUSKS ONE LOT : THREE TUSKS ONE LOT : FOUR TUSKS ONE LOT : TWO TUSKS To the Director Dear Sir I have come to enquire if I have anything … Continue reading
It is my lot as a scribbler to research subjects so you don’t have to. It is selfless and noble and ill-paid work, but I do it uncomplainingly – well, apart from those times, increasingly frequent, when I buttonhole bystanders … Continue reading
Speaking of drayhorses, as we were yesterday, I could not help but notice that the phrase “Git on drayhorse” is an anagram of “Hooting Yarders”. This has the vexing implication that my average reader or listener is a git mounted … Continue reading
It’s been a while since we paid a visit to the groovelab, high in the Swiss Alps, where tireless boffins attempt to isolate the essential core of Hooting Yard’s grooviness. But we may have to pack our pippy bags and … Continue reading
Today there is cause for celebration. No, not the Muggletonian Great Holiday, that was last week. The reason for unbridled cheer is that what you are reading is the one thousandth postage at Hooting Yard since the site was rejigged … Continue reading
Hooting Yard’s anagrammatist-in-chief, R., has alerted me to Joel Stickley’s How To Write Badly Well blog. A cursory examination suggests I can pick up some very useful tips there. This, for example, entitled “Present your research in the form of … Continue reading
Bored by stamps, coins, and football paraphernalia, I decided to collect flies in mud. I began my collection last Saturday, and what with one thing and another have not been able to devote as much time to it as I … Continue reading
At the last count, Blodgett is thought to have been involved in no fewer than six bungled heists. By comparing the circumstances of each heist, we may learn not only about their bunglement, but something, too, about Blodgett the man. … Continue reading
Dear Mr Key, writes Olivia Funnel, I thought you would be interested to learn that I have in my possession a picture of steam coming out of Binder’s ears. It is not a photograph, alas, though to the untrained eye … Continue reading
Watching an edifice crumble can provide a salutary lesson. I do not mean the sorts of lessons government ministers are fond of announcing have been or will be learned following the latest debacle. Such announcements are merely the craven bleatings … Continue reading
L’homme qui grogne was, and possibly still is, the French counterpart of the Grunty Man. History tells us that he was active in the countryside around Avignon during the period when it was the seat of the Papacy, that is … Continue reading
From the far Antipodes, Glyn Webster writes: Frank! What I am looking at here is Prudence Foxglove visiting the Pang Hill Orphanage. The little fellow in the middle is wearing his pippy bag. Please do not tell me I am … Continue reading
Those of you who enjoyed listening to Norm Sherman’s reading of “Far, Far Away†will be pleased to hear that this week’s featured story on his Drabblecast podcast is “Boiled Black Broth And Cornetsâ€. Once again, his approach to the … Continue reading
We awake to discover the Great Wen matted with snow. The city is a white wasteland. Buses and trains stand cold and neglected in their depots. By the day’s end, if the snow does not melt, or worse, if there … Continue reading