by Ian Cochrane | May 25, 2013 | Americas, Europe, Oceania, Utopia
A face stares out from my PC screen: a suited-up man about 30yrs old, the boyish face round, the hairline receding. I see a clean face, but for the sparing outline of a beard. I see a thin mouth, the eyes narrowed and slightly turned, the face of a man who killed...
by Ian Cochrane | May 22, 2013 | Oceania, Utopia
To be perfectly honest, the only things I knew about the town of Karratha until recently, was that it was somewhere up in the northwest Australian outback, and the commercial centre of the Pilbara region; Karratha taking its name from the indigenous language meaning...
by Ian Cochrane | May 8, 2013 | Oceania
We linger in the dark after coffee, among deserted café chairs of bleached wooden slats, tables and simple benches. The air smells of seaweed, salt and garlic. The night cries of wheeling gulls float across Moeraki Harbour – ‘sleepy sky’ in Maori – as little blue...
by Ian Cochrane | Apr 29, 2013 | Oceania, Utopia
Thanks so much to Melanie (motherofnine9) for thinking of my humble blog for this award, being one of the 1st BC members to touch base with me on joining this great community. Melanie is well respected in blogging circles, a warm human being, a prolific writer and a...
by Ian Cochrane | Apr 22, 2013 | Asia, Oceania
I met Becky in the supermarket dairy aisle; a vivacious 40-something, born and raised locally. I’d seen her around, but we’d never met before Ed reappeared. I asked how my old friend was. “Not so good,” she said. “Still can’t sleep. And he really struggles with...
by Ian Cochrane | Apr 17, 2013 | Oceania
Straight from a long lunch, I raised my umbrella and headed for the pedestrian bridge. Crossing the river, I turned onto the station path; Melbourne cold and soaked after six days rain. I recall the soulful sounds of an upright two-string Vietnamese fiddle...
