Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

"All writing is garbage. People who come out of nowhere to try and put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs.  All writers are pigs. Especially writers today." - Antonin Artaud 

And all of a sudden every house on every street folded in on itself handkerchief soft and the curve of the earth found the energy to straighten and all I could see were the upturned hands of churches and trees spires and branches limestone and leaves for miles and miles and miles. 

For Simon  In another life we might have stopped at a point where the road widened jumped out blessed whomever for our crops and the good that it would do  danced a wild goodbye to the drought until our shirts were soaked but instead we waved our fists behind the safety of your wipers   until we found a small but significant role for water to play in this but as we weaved ourselves north we came to see a weakness in it and we began to wonder how it would handle our growing spirit  and what it would do if it felt what we felt when we arrived when the smooth heat of her electric guitar slid down our throats and saw to it that rain was just there to cool our little patch of earth.

Mr Thomas Wiggins 9 Bradmill Gardens Hucclecote Gloucester GL3 9DT Her Majesty The Queen Buckingham Palace London SW1A 1AA Sunday 20 th September 2015 Madam, Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Your Majesty on becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.  I speak for the vast majority of the British public and The Commonwealth when I say your reign is an exceptional achievement and long may it continue.  Please accept this letter as a formal invitation to attend my 30th birthday party on Saturday 4th June 2016.  My birthday actually falls on 8th June, but no one wants to party on a Wednesday, apart from Prince Harry (allegedly).  Details as to arrival time and venue have yet to be finalised, but it will almost certainly be held in Gloucester (for The Royal Sat Nav, it will be within half a mile of Edward II’s tomb).   A buffet (Mr Tesco’s version of a ba...

A chapter from The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz.  An extremely absorbing and insightful read. Cheers, Gloucester Library!  Sarah L. is supposed to go away with her boyfriend for the weekend but, at the last minute, she decides, to stay in with her girlfriends and watch television.  Surprised, they encourage her to think again.  'You had  a fantastic time going away with Alex before,' they tell her.  But Sarah can't be swayed.  'I just don't feel like it,' she says. Attractive, quick-witted and successful, Sarah began psychoanalysis because she felt stuck - at thirty-five, she was ready for marriage and hoping to start a family.  Over the past few years, she has met a few men whom she considered 'promising,' but none of her relationships has lasted.  She can't say precisely what it is, but she sense that she might be doing something to spoil her chances. 'Why didn't you go?' I ask her.  'He's too keen,' she tells...

1.  "Hurt Me" -  Låpsley   I don't know what's cool and what's not at the moment.  And - to be frank - I don't care.  The benefit of having listened to a lot of music over the years leads to an unshakeable self-assurance in one's own tastes.  And while some songs grip you over time, others scream instant classic within the first ten seconds.   "Hurt Me" by Låpsley is an example of the latter.  The last time I felt so strongly about a song within the first few seconds was back in 2012 when I first heard "Angels" by The XX.  Songs like  "Station", "Falling Short" and "Painter (Valentine)" established the 19 year-old as a prodigious talent.  But it is with the addition "Hurt Me" to her  repertoire that may herald her breakthrough.  It is  the most anthemic of the teenager's career so far and possibly her most radio-friendly.  It is a huge sound.  All the songs add up to an auspicious star...

Apprentice : Indentured trainee tradesman. The stonemasonry apprenticeship was once 15 years, it is now reduced to 3. Generally doubles [as] a tea boy, errand run ner, doer of the dirtiest jobs, victim of warped practical jokes and experimental humour; slave. -  A Stone Mason's Dictionary (www.finestoneminiatures.com/dictionary_a.htm) An apprentice's honeymoon period - if you are lucky enough to have one - can last anywhere between one hour and one week.  This is a period in which you are given special dispensation for your stupidity, clumsiness and complete lack of initiative.  You are taken under the mason's wing and cared for like you were their own son or daughter.  Mistakes either go unpunished or are tactfully and politely corrected away from the earshot of the other masons.  You could be forgiven for thinking that you're (a) actually good at this and (b) the mason you're serving under actually likes you.  Make no m...

Roughly halfway through Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia' , after a long night in search of a body through remote Turkish hillsides, a weary parade of officials and the accused stop for sustenance.  Tiredness and confusion has muddled the mind of the suspect over the whereabouts of the body.  The search party, consisting of a police commissioner, doctor, prosecutor and driver, are all past the point of tiredness.  They've all written the night off and have resigned themselves to the fact that they're unlikely to return to town with either a confession or the missing body.  In the early hours of the morning, the  three-car parade stop for a break in a village and gather in the darkness of the local mayor's home.  All the men are physically and emotionally spent.  Even in the darkness, the stresses and strains of their working and personal lives are discernable through the shadows thrown on each of their faces.  Cracks ar...