Dean Atkins

We’ll help you be there

It’s the cover version of “It Must be Love” by Madness that forms the soundtrack of one of BT’s most recent advertising campaigns. “I never thought I’d feel this way, the way I feel about you,” goes the singing of Suggs. “As soon as I wake up every night, every day, I know that it’sContinue reading “We’ll help you be there”

Dumbfounded Afresh

She was fascinated by the ladybird which she held in her hand. At the time, ladybirds were in plentiful supply having set up home in one of the bushes in the gardens at St Mary’s Church. Having been mesmerised by it herself, she was intent on showing others, sharing this tiny bug, plucked from theContinue reading “Dumbfounded Afresh”

Not such a Nice Deal

“Don’t go down there, love. It’s not very nice.” I had chatted to him for a little while, a cheerful, engaging police officer stationed at one of the road blocks near St Mary’s as the city of Cardiff welcomed the Championship League final in 2017. The city was colourful, vibrant, bursting at the seams withContinue reading “Not such a Nice Deal”

Under the Same Sun

When Butetown was being built up, as it hoisted itself up on steel, flexed its muscles on the back of coal, and dipped its toes into the sea, it took pride in a population formed from over fifty foreign nations. This was certainly the case by the time Archduke Ferdinand took the bullet, blasting usContinue reading “Under the Same Sun”

The Bells of St Mary’s

Some years ago, my late morning sleep was somewhat spent as I woke to a constant, distant, thud, thud, thud. It happened every few seconds, and it echoed round the place where I live, puncturing the day, every day, and I had no idea where the sound came from or what it was. I blamedContinue reading “The Bells of St Mary’s”