Although it was the wife who had actually purchased the winning Lottery ticket, the jubilant Hewitts decided to divide their winnings two thirds and one third. “Anyway, what on earth am I going to do with £80-million?” she asked. “Well, you’ve often talked about visiting your sister in Australia. And since you’ve never seen your two nephews, what better time could there be?” Tony asked. Later that morning, Dawn returned f...

Collecting the keys of the car from the rental company’s underground offices, he headed west out of the airport. He tapped in the hotel’s post code on the Sat Nav, to be informed that he would reach his destination in under an hour. As English country house hotels go, it was no great shakes. But it was the end of the financial year and the Brussels office had had its travel budget slashed. Cyber-security specialist Mark C...

Terry is my oldest friend. It is a friendship which stretches back to our schooldays. We went fishing together, travelled across Europe to see Formula 1 races and holidayed together in Provence. Terry, a self-confessed Francophile and fluent French speaker, was in his element each time we crossed the Channel. So it wasn’t altogether surprising that he finished up buying a little gite outside a tiny village near Clermont F...

To describe our marriage as ‘heading for the rocks’ would be a gross understatement. We were ON the fucking rocks, well and truly, with the boat’s timbers letting in water, but neither of us wanting to jump ship and take our chances in the storm-lashed sea. Tim sought sexual solace in his weekly visits to the all-male bathhouse across town, claiming he only went there to tone up his muscles in the steam room. From what I’...

“So, what shall we get Kate for her birthday?” Jennifer asked her husband over breakfast. “Oh, the usual: a box of those Belgian chocolate truffles she likes and a card,” he replied airily, without putting down his Sunday newspaper. “Your sister’s always been a chocoholic.” “Don’t be ridiculous, Barry!” The paper was lowered. “How come?” “Because, my dear, next Friday happens to be my sister’s ‘Big Five O’. Don’t say you...

It is Halloween Night. Amateur historian Mark Davenport has driven his eighteen-year-old nephew Nigel to see the ruins of a moated manor house deep in the countryside. The youth is none too enthusiastic about this excursion, having unsuccessfully suggested to his uncle that a trip to the local IMAX to see ‘Scream III’ would have been much more in keeping with the spirit of Halloween. The deeper they drove into Devon the d...

Prudence and Jacqui had been friends for just under a year, having met at a local charity event. Their friendship soon developed through their mutual interest in golf, usually a mid-week round of 9 holes at the local club. Returning to the clubhouse one afternoon they passed the captain of the club’s Ladies Section. The two nodded courteously at the buxom woman but made no attempt to get involved in conversation. “Miserab...

Headmistress Agnes Horsley’s weekly staff meetings were tedious and time-consuming. Sandra gazed out of the Staff Room’s Victorian casement window at the sun-dappled playing fields, where the sixth form girls’ hockey practice was about to get under way. She was distantly conscious of her name being called. “I said: did you read this article Miss Brockington?” “Article?” Sandra queried, hurriedly returning to the meeting....

It is two weeks before Christmas. “She’s late again!” “She’s always late. We used to tease her: ‘Zazie, darling, you’ll be late for your own funeral!” All is white. A radiant, heavenly white. Six elegantly-dressed women are languidly seated or stretched over six chaise lounges chairs, all upholstered in heavily-brocaded cream silk, decorated with fine gold threads. Perched on the topmost arms of several of the chairs are...

I grew up in a very homophobic household. My macho rugby-playing father thought Noel Coward's effeminacay was an insult, while my mother would be equally disparaging about the overt bisexual mannerisms of the lovely Marlene Dietrich. I suspect that if I'd sported a Gay Pride lapel bage back then I'd have been shown the front door. The 1960s in Britain was a repressive era, although the first refreshing winds of change cam...

Dennis was the town's longest-serving postman. There wasn't a day when, on his weary eight-hour round, he didn't think about retirement. Trudging up the long hill to Mack's filling station, he calculated that he was only one hour from finishing the gruelling 'walk'. "Shouldn't have bothered, buddy," said the gas station's proprietor, flinging the package into the trash bin. "It's only advertising garbage. Your usual doubl...

Dear Judith, It was good to have that brief chat together in the interval at the concert the other evening. I would certainly like to know more about you, but 'breaking the ice' in a noisy and crowded theatre crush bar is not the best place to do it! I've only been a member of the local Singles Society for about three months and you are the first person I've really had a chance to interact with. Would you, I wonder, be in...

In our final year at college, I was the only male student who hadn't lost his virginity. Most of the other guys had girlfriends who were happy to oblige; one nerd had to pay a hooker; two bribed the college bike ('everyone rode her') with packets of cigarettes. But I still couldn't get to first base. In the jerk-off league table I was up there with the leaders, but I had yet to experience the unbridled joy of full penetra...

I had been to Venice several times and was never disappointed by its magic. Yes, there are hordes of tourists throughout the year, but what can you expect if you seek out such a preposterously over-the-top, baroque city-on-an-island? A man-made fairytale confection, doomed to eventually sink into the lagoon that surrounds it, like a latter day Atlantis. I had met Alicea on a European dating site. We 'clicked' from the wor...

Our precocious and hugely talented Russian twins Nikka and Nina were about to start their second term in St Trinian's A-Grade Sixth form. In the Staff Room, few of us doubted that they were destined for great futures. I could see Nikka comfortably handling the job of UN Secretary General, whilst quieter Nina was probably going to be a merchant banker in the City of London, retiring to the Maldives at thirty. Just at that...