A REAR OLD TIME

Readers of a nervous disposition, with weak stomachs or a strong gag reflex, are strongly advised not to read any further – nerves of steel and a cast-iron constitution are the minimum requirement for what follows. If you are deficient in these areas, you could always listen to Newstalk ZB and acquaint yourself with the latest conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccine containing microchips small enough to cross the blood/brain barrier that will wedge in our frontal lobes and make us helpless automatons when the World Government that is fast approaching begins beaming instructions to get us to line up in single file and hand over our credit-card pin numbers.

But first, some good news: I have finally mastered the Procreate drawing app on my iPad. Graduating from pen and pencil on paper, which offers some resistance, to an electronic pencil that glides across a frictionless glass screen like an ice-hockey puck is akin to upgrading from a Sopwith Camel to a Stealth Bomber. I struggled for months without much success until Isabel Bown, the widow of prolific author and playwright Dean Parker, asked me to contribute a drawing of her late husband for the cover of his commemoration