Alan Wearring-Smith

Just wanted to share some news… some of you may have noticed a bit of re-purposing of my X account in the past few weeks. I had tried to launch my novel by serialising it each week on Substack, but it all became a bit too overwhelming, and I wasn’t enjoying the experience. So I’ve put that aside for now and will write for a bit of fun 🤩. Here’s my new introduction: open.substack.com/pub/alanwe… The first proper post to follow later this week… called my manifesto! Don’t worry, it’s tongue in cheek (British humour)!!!

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner Bleak. Gritty. Uncompromising. A journey into the American prison system. Important themes: Incarceration, motherhood, and the uncomfortable relationship between personal responsibility and society. Was it my cup of tea? No. It wasn't exactly relaxing; it dragged me into a corner of the world I'd rather ignore. Did I feel happier with the world? Good heavens, no. If anything, depressed. My book rating: Unsettling. Disturbing. Dense.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold An unusual premise. An unsettling beginning. A rather audacious attempt to explore grief from beyond the grave. Important themes: Grief, loss and the long, messy process of letting go. Was it my cup of tea: Yes, although not always comfortably. Did I feel happier with the world? Not particularly. It’s difficult to feel cheerful about the human capacity for cruelty. But there is something reassuring about the resilience of those left behind. My book rating: Haunting. Imaginative. Heartbreaking.

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer Six friends. One summer camp. A lifetime of dreams colliding. Important themes: Friendship, envy, talent, wealth, privilege, ageing, and different life paths. Was it my cup of tea: Yes. Particularly good at exploring being happy for friends. Did I feel happier with the world? Not particularly. But I did feel slightly more understanding of the complicated mess we make of our lives. My book rating: Thoughtful. Engaging. Warm and witty.

Day Ten.… time to head home… and probably discover that “doing nothing” is considerably harder when there’s a suitcase to unpack. 😄

Day Nine… and Port Louis revisited. Because one visit wasn’t enough to take in the noise, colour, characters, and streets of Mauritius’s capital. So back we went for more. 🇲🇺

The Monkeys of Coggeshall One Church, Some Bells, A Priest, and A Rather Suspicious Species of Monkey  A Question of Sound  A philosophical question: if a monkey swings in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? And if a priest who’s highly regarded in the local community talks to monkeys, is he certifiable? I’m confident it is perfectly normal to conjure a bedtime story for my eldest daughter, covering both questions. It’s not as though I’m reading it from a book. I’m fully aware I’m making it up. A yarn that I hope will become a forever story, one that stays with her throughout her lifetime ... To read more, hit the link below, and don't forget to subscribe for your weekly comic-iky edition: alanwearrings.substack.com/p…

Day Eight… and a few snapshots of Mauritius taken from the back seat of a taxi on previous excursions around the island. Sugar-cane fields, dramatic mountains, winding roads and spectacular coastline — no stopping, no posing, no retakes… all motion pictures! 🚕🇲🇺

Day Seven… and today the real reason for our Mauritian adventure — the wonderful birthday of Alka Hyams! 🥳❤️ A day to celebrate a very special person in a very special place. 🇲🇺🌴🍹 Happy Birthday, Alka! 🥂🎂❤️

Day Six… and today, a splash of colour. Bougainvillaea in every shade of pink and orange, spectacular purple blooms and these gloriously tropical flowers everywhere you look.

Day Five… and a slight change of pace. If lazing around Mauritius on dry land was too conventional, a day underwater instead, courtesy of Aquaventure Mauritius 🇲🇺. Because being on holiday means losing all common sense below sea level!

Day Four… and another day spent lazing around this wonderful island, eating glorious local seafood, drinking a cold drink or two (with a little Mauritian rum, naturally), and doing absolutely nothing other than making an important cultural contribution. Someone has to keep the local economy going. 🇲🇺🍹

Day three … pool day! An absolute nothing to do day. One where relaxing and emptying the mind is reached, and there’s nothing to be done about it!

The Humans by Matt Haig Warm. Funny. Thought-provoking. Important themes: What it means to be human, love, loneliness, mortality, and why we make such an extraordinary mess of our lives! Was it my cup of tea: Yes. Genuinely loving observations about being human. Did I feel happier with the world? Yes. Perhaps we humans aren’t quite as hopeless as we sometimes appear. My book rating: Enjoyable, thoughtful and often funny story. It reminded me of the value of being human.

Day Two … continued. Port Louis Market is the sort of place where your eyes don’t know where to look first — colourful fruit, vegetables, spices, people and noise!

Day Two… Port Louis: a city of contrasts — superyachts, busy streets, and grand old cathedrals.

The Tesco Delivery Van, The Ministry of Dreams & The Department of Nightmares When Dreams, Nightmares, Hallucination, and Artificial Intelligence Collide The Open Road Manifesto Supermarkets! Lists, aisles, trolleys, scanners, checkouts: the bane of my existence. Shopping drudgery, or so I thought. Then came COVID, and I saw things differently after applying to drive for Tesco. I put on my face mask, passed the interview and sat next to the internal driving assessor, who was quite tricky to judge. Then again, perhaps that was the point. This felt suspiciously like my second driving test. I took command of my jangling nerves... To read more, hit the link below, and don't forget to subscribe for your weekly comic-iky edition: alanwearrings.substack.com/p…

Turquoise water, white sand, dramatic scenery, palm trees, sunsets… Mauritius, day one!