Most people think nothing of mundane activities such as spitting out a seed, flicking a discarded pip from a trouser leg, or squeezing a cherry stone between your fingers until it scoots int… Read More

“He made me lie face down near the fountain and massaged the back of my legs incredibly firmly as though he was trying to make impressions of my calves and knees in the marble. He did… Read More

On 5th December 1872, the ship Dei Gratia was about 400 miles east of the Azores, when crew members spotted a ship adrift in the choppy seas. Capt. David Morehouse was surprised the vessel w… Read More

By behaving this way, the chameleon fish can assume the colour and size of about 50 other species of fish in the surrounding seas, all of them much larger and more imposing than the Chameleo… Read More

I have recently transferred between Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. The ‘official’ time passengers should allow is 90 minutes, but the time it took me, from leavin… Read More

Originally posted on THE BeZINE: This year, the last Saturday of September, the regular day for the Global 100,000 Poets for Change Events around the world, falls on Yom Kippur, considered t… Read More

Further up the hill is the Vaporia district with its abundance of wealthy shipowner’s mansions looking out over the Mediterranean. Just down to the right, right by the sea, is the Aste… Read More

I lay on the vast hot marble slab and sweated profusely for 15 minutes, occasionally dowsing myself in cool water from a metal bowl filled from the fountains. I held the mitt I was given at… Read More

Arriving at Ermoupolis, the capital of Syros and of all The Cyclades and known as “The Queen of the Aegean”, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the loveliness of this town… Read More

This is the third of five short pieces about my recent visit to the island of Samos in the Aegean Islands. Samos is only about two miles from the Turkish coast but is definitely part of Gree… Read More

“Half a dozen smallish men in light-green overalls were hanging around the luggage carousel. One of them, around fifty years old with a receding hairline, a pencil moustache, and one o… Read More

Starting in the north-west of the Old Town, the first major sight the visitor comes across is the Palace of the Grand Masters, which was rebuilt by the Italians after an ammunition explosion… Read More

In times past life was hard for the poorer people in British society. Working in the fields was a tough life especially when the weather was bad. Most families lived from hand to mouth and a… Read More

Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The island is n… Read More

In the UK there are many contests involving the humble biscuit ranging from building competitions to throwing events. However, in Barnsley the biscuits are just rolled for fun, so that in th… Read More

The Plateia Miaouli is the centre of the town, a large open square, surrounded on three sides by palm trees, cafes, and benches for people watching. This is the place where the local populat… Read More

A cold front moved in yesterday and now I'm sitting here in long fuzzy socks and a long-sleeve wrap, glad that the heat of summer is finally behind us. Now it's time to write! And for those… Read More

“Shouts of ‘No photos’ greeted our arrival at the principal burning ghat of the city, Jalasayin. From my vantage point in the boat, I could see the bodies waiting to be cre… Read More

We then encountered a long queue of people holding their passports. At the head of the line was a large overweight gentleman in a grey tunic sitting on a wooden chair similar to the ones we… Read More

The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that separates the ecozones of Asia and Wallacea, a transitional zone between Asia an… Read More

I had arrived at the town of Pythagorio on the ferry from Patmos. Pythagorio is the Samian destination for ferries from the Dodecanese Islands. The port of Vathy on the northern side of Samo… Read More

Jaipur Pythons will pick fruit from a tree and take it back to its lair for storage. These pythons tend not to gorge themselves on food as this would slow them down if they had to escape. Th… Read More

The singing of sad songs has been associated with Morecambe in Lancashire for hundreds of years. These dirges were usually sung when someone had been drowned in the dangerous waters of Morec… Read More

I visited Crete after reports of a man sticking feathers on his son and then encouraging him to jump out of a tall tower. The man’s name was Daedalus. He was shut up in a tower to prev… Read More

There are 270 species of snakes in India, 60 of which are highly venomous including the Indian Cobra, the Krait, and the Russell’s viper. Every year 20,000 people die in India due to s… Read More

The Mambutterfly is the name given to large elephant-size creatures found in the Siberian permafrost, which had multi-coloured coats as opposed to the single-colour coats of their cousins th… Read More

The annual tossing the Cricket Stump contest in Cockermouth dates back to 1856 when cricket first came to the town. Three local vicars had visited the Scottish Border Games in Galashiels the… Read More

I was asked to visit the Hindenburg Zeppelin amid concerns over the safety of the hydrogen within the vast fabric of this large airship, just before it began its transatlantic journey to the… Read More

Most snakes move in a forwards direction by zig-zagging along the ground. However, the Straight Snake of Assam, a small brown snake from north-eastern India, always moves in a straight line… Read More

Three poems from Karen Alkalay-Gut: What I need, I am a connoisseur of insomnia, and Avishag Speaks Read More

The Unusual Pets Society has a network around the world and meets online once a month. TUPS has a convention every second year, each time in a different country. The next meeting will be in… Read More

The Bactrian Heron is chiefly found along the length of the Amu Darya River as it flows from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea in Central Asia. This heron feeds on most of the local fish i… Read More

The tradition of making armour for battle goes back thousands of years. Strapping leather together to make a strong material resistant to bronze sword blows was probably the first type of ar… Read More

Monkeys would not only eat the fruit, but also use them to settle territorial disputes – the monkey that could throw a pineapple the furthest would win. The monkeys also used pineapple… Read More

“The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha is a collection of artistic gems dating from the 7th to the 19th Centuries. The building was designed by IM Pei, the man responsible for the Louvre P… Read More

“Musicians accompany every performance and play a variety of instruments from drums to high-pitched flutes. The most atmospheric is the deeply resonating yak-horn that lends an immense… Read More

The Yoga Badger of Swaziland is so called because of its relaxed approach to life. This attitude contrasts sharply with other badgers in Africa such as the manic Honey Badger. The Yoga Badge… Read More

Playing cards have played an important role in people’s lives for centuries. The Playing Card Festival has been held annually since 1682 to celebrate all the non-gambling uses that pla… Read More

Moon Song, Driving it Home and Keeping it There, Vanishing Act | Three Poems by Jennifer Juneau | Meta/ Phor(e) /Play Read More

Nearly nine hundred years earlier Alexander the Great had crossed the Oxus in order to apprehend Bessus, the governor of Bactria. Alexander ordered that Bessus’s nose and ears be cut o… Read More

Ever since inner tubes were placed inside bicycle tyres there’s been the problem of how to mend them in the quickest possible manner. The most common solution is to remove the inner tu… Read More

Michael Stone takes us from memory through observation to hope—three poems on Meta/ Phor(e) /Play Read More

Autumn is the time when items fall from trees with great regularity. Acorns and conkers can be caught in great numbers. In Ludlow in the first week of October there’s a festival that t… Read More

It’s hard to say how this contest began or when – some people say it’s proof that King Arthur was from the Scottish Borders region; others believe that the contest only dat… Read More

I am told that a man with a gun is in a book depository in Dallas. There is a chance he doesn’t have a license for the gun and guns aren’t allowed in book depositories. I am to i… Read More

Sandeep turned the boat around and we moved downstream past our starting point to Man Mandir Ghat, where the Maharajah of Jaipur converted a palace into an astronomical observatory in 1710… Read More

However, this bat is best known for eating the fruit left behind by Hindus taking part in religious festivals on Bali. Every aspect of Balinese life is steeped in religious belief. Ninety pe… Read More

My fellow New West Writer Chloe Cocking is launching her new novel, BLOOD RAIN, this Saturday, October 21 at 4pm at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster. Come out of the rain this  wee… Read More

I was lucky enough to see a Greek Orthodox service at the Apokalypsis monastery. The priest wore a white ‘dress’ decorated with Greek crosses. He had a large, bushy grey beard an… Read More

At the end of the Christmas holidays in the dark days of Winter everyone needs to let off a little steam. This may explain why the Christmas Tree Topiary contest in North Allerton is so popu… Read More

The Japanese Tortoise Pigeon lives to a very old age and almost certainly has the longest lifespan of any bird. The pigeon was given the name because it flies very slowly, flapping its wings… Read More

A most remarkable bird lives in northern Sri Lanka. The Archer Warbler lives around Trincomalee where it is colloquially known as the spitting bird or insect shooting bird. The Archer Warble… Read More

Walking around the ancient harbour of Pythagorio, parts of which are 2,600 years old, the visitor soon comes to a statue of Pythagoras, who was born i the area around 574 BCE. He was one of… Read More

Yialos stretches around the main bay into the smaller Harani Bay, the main area for shipbuilding in times past. Some boats are still repaired here, though the majority of the vessels tied to… Read More

As a result, most mambutterflies were a mixture of blue, red, and silver, which meant they stood out against the tundra in the winter and against the grasslands in the summer. The coats of t… Read More

In the seas around Indonesia lives an unusual fish, the Great Sunda Chameleon Fish. The fish is named after the Great Sunda islands, which include Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. As the reader ca… Read More

I was asked to attend a sailing ship in the North Atlantic, where it was believed some illicit alcohol was being carried. On November 7, 1872, the 282-ton brigantine Mary Celeste had set sai… Read More

Tortoise Pigeons tend to perch in the lowest branches of the smallest trees as they can’t generate enough power in their wings to fly very high. They’re usually found in towns wh… Read More

It’s believed the bird first discovered this unusual method by accident. A high-tide had inundated a freshwater pond. The warbler didn’t realise this and drank the water. When it… Read More

Heading south-west from Platia Miaouli and just inland from the Ferry Quay is the Church of the Dormition, containing the island’s most valuable work of art, a painting of the Assumpti… Read More

Most travellers to Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese Islands, visit the Old Town of Rhodes and the ancient town of Lindos with its acropolis dating from the 6th-Century BC. It may come a… Read More

The Yoga Badger doesn’t damage the nest as he realises it’s in his own interests to maintain a secure environment for the termites, as the badger may need to come back in the fut… Read More

I booked this hotel in July for two nights in early September. The hotel is in the heart of the old town of Rhodes and isn’t accessible via motorised vehicles. I caught the airport bus… Read More

From Perpignan it’s a 50-minute train journey to Villefranche-de-Conflent. The town of Villefranche is then a further 10-minute walk away from the station up the valley. The wonderful… Read More

The snake lives mainly on small rodents and mammals that live under the branches of trees. These animals don’t believe that parts of a tree can be their enemy until it is too late. Dri… Read More

St John the Divine or St John the Evangelist was exiled to Patmos from Ephesus in 95AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian. It’s said St John wrote his Gospel on Patmos, but his exile here i… Read More

Arriving at Symi Town is the loveliest way to begin any visit to a Greek Island. The bay has low hills on all sides and on those hills are stacked differently coloured ochre Italianate mansi… Read More

Musicians accompany every performance and play a variety of instruments from drums to high-pitched flutes. The most atmospheric is the deeply resonating yak-horn that lends an immense sense… Read More

The Northampton sheep thief, George Bellamy, was the first person to ever return from Australia after escaping from the penal colony in 1788. Despite his claims to have swum back it’s… Read More

These beetles tend to work early in the morning for about four hours roughly around sunrise. They start off slowly at first, but their pace quickens once they have rolled a few beans back to… Read More

Protest has been part of the democratic process for hundreds of years. With each passing year, there are new injustices to be countered with new placards and new banners. When these protests… Read More

She enjoyed scavenging—three poems by Meg Harris: Memory, Bird Sanctuary, and Travel Read More

Originally posted on antinarrative journal: Bio: Michael Dickel’s work appears in several print and online publications. He co-edited Voices Israel Volume 36, was managing ed… Read More