“Green Santa” – written for Sky magazine. All it takes is one glance at the sleek, neatly groomed Santa in a yoga outfit to telegraph where this piece is going. But why stop there? “Isn’t it about time Santa took a look at his own carbon footprint?” we asked. And answered! Download to read more

“Condiments” – written for Sky. Some of the best travel impressions come when a writer is utterly surprised by what he encounters. I was absolutely fascinated by the teeming window of condiments in the butcher shop in a Scottish seaside village. Never had I seen so many nor heard of so many! And never could I look at marmalade(s) the same way afterward. Download to read more

 “Provence by Bike” – written for Four Seasons magazine. How well I remember a field filled entirely with sunflowers – with tournesols – and their swaying, eerily human-like. And my lover disappearing into them briefly as if she’d been kidnapped. Download to read more

“Paris Underworld” – written for Sky. I considered it a personal triumph to publish a story about lingerie in a magazine necessarily as modest as Sky. It proved that one can be sexy without being vulgar, a most important distinction. And the lovely illustration shows why illustrations are often so much more effective than photographs. Download to read more

“Dunes” – written for Sky. “In Ireland the dunes can be the size of small buildings, rising as high as a half-dozen stories, towering over golfers and the bumpy fairways they ply.” And menacing, I write from direct experience. Download to read more