by Steve Tanham
Ben’s Bit, part 7 – Heels in the Night The sound began one night; an insistent tapping entering my dreams, making me think of leaking pipes and other failing elements of the old infrastructure of Bakewell’s ‘improving’ jail. When it continued, my thin sleep on the thinner mattress came to an end, and I lay with ears straining in the total blackness as the insistent … Read More Ben’s Bit, part seven – Heels in the Night
by Steve Tanham
Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, part 26 – Outside the circle There was a chill wind as I took up my appointed place outside the doorway of our Monday morning cafe. The Summer had been a poor one for the North of England. Now, it looked as though the Autumn was about to arrive prematurely. I pulled my too-thin rain mac around my collar … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, part 26 – Outside the Circle
by Steve Tanham
Ben’s Bit – part five – The Reasonable Dr Grey The man is calm. His dark-rimmed, circular glasses focus the intensity of his study at me, rather than taking in the light that bounces off my prison uniform, whose monotone colour, resembling a modern warship, bears his name. “Do you think it’s normal for a person in your position to refuse bail?” Dr Grey … Read More Ben’s Bit, part five – The Reasonable Dr Grey
+ Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Metanoia, Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, Silent Eye School, spiritual turning around, Spirituality
by Steve Tanham
I knew it was Alexandra. I could feel her strong presence as she entered the cafe for our Monday morning chat. Even though I could not see it, I could tell, exactly, the moment that she stood still to take in the scene, unmoving by the doorway, gazing across the busy tables, her vision locking on to the spectacle . . . I had worn the best … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, part 25 – The Turning Point
by Steve Tanham
The night time is the worst. Within a world which contains so little, I find myself clinging to what is there; growing more present to the slightest changes in my meagre environment. When the daylight starts to fade in the evening, which happens earlier and earlier under the gathering cloak of Autumn, I can actually feel the waves of darkness changing the atmosphere in … Read More Ben’s Bit, part four – Into the Dark Waters
+ Consciousness, enneagram, esoteric psychology, Lust, Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, Silent Eye School, Spirituality
by Steve Tanham
I sat, nervously sipping my coffee, wondering where Alexandra was. It was 08:45 and she should have arrived at least fifteen minutes ago. I was on edge for two reasons: firstly, I was worried that a woman who was never late should be so, now; secondly, an honest description of that part of our mental and emotional make-up that was the enneatype eight was … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee, part 24 – Hot Blood and Innocence!
by Steve Tanham
After exercise in the tree-lined yard of the old gaol, I am returned to my cell, clutching a fallen twig of oak. Yellow eyes doesn’t seem to mind this simple addition to the contents of my room, and lets me keep it. “They will fade and crumble soon,” he mutters, as though the judgment carries enough negative weight against the idea of keeping them. “You can … Read More Ben’s Bit, part three – The Oak Leaves
by Steve Tanham
I’ve done it again – drifted off, fully conscious; somewhere else. I do not know how long I’ve been staring at the Bakewell Gazette (see part one), absorbing their celebratory levity at my incarceration. ‘Local Businessman’? Well, stretching a point, but I know what they mean – certainly born among Northern hills very much like the beauty around Bakewell. ‘Businessman’? Definitely, until the recent, long-awaited … Read More Ben’s Bit, part two – The Little Red Book
by Steve Tanham
We ran through the steepening streets of the town. I pulled at Alexandra’s wrist and, every few strides, looked around, anxiously, in search of our pursuers. “What are we running from?” she laughed, behind me, now well used to my craziness. I had noticed that she had recently taken to wearing more casual clothing for our teaching encounters, and suspected that her larger bag, now … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee (22) – Flight and Fight
by Steve Tanham
There is a wall and, across the dark room, another wall. I walk between them. Getting there – to the other wall – is the goal. What is in the middle is mere mathematics: five strides sees me across the old stone floor, and I practice so that my toe touches the far wall exactly on the fifth . . . the edges of … Read More Ben’s Bit, part 1 – Humbling Beginnings
by Steve Tanham
We were sitting by the river, though earlier than usual. The padded plastic-bottomed picnic blanket I had brought serving us well as a coffee base on the cold limestone, which was constantly made wet by the spray from the rapids in the adjacent river Kent. Neither of us seemed to mind the gentle mist. The thermos flask had been half emptied and we were enjoying our coffee. … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee (21) – The Anxious Heart
by Steve Tanham
I met Alexandra at the local station. She had agreed to spend an hour longer with me before getting the London train from Oxenholme, which serves the Lake District and has a direct link to the capital. She changed into her summer boots at the back of her car, and we walked the short distance to the local bakery, which had a tiny cafe, … Read More Nine Deadly Sins with Coffee (20) – A Torrent of Fear
Sun in Gemini 
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