I’D just started work as a nurse and it was my first time living on my own. I managed to rent a tiny flat in Finchley. It came with a window box, a stray cat that hung around mewing for food, plus a n

I grew up surrounded by coffins. And after decades as a funeral director, it seems death isn’t always the end…

Apart from the For Sale board, the house didn’t look any different from the last time I was here. Six months ago now. The day of my father’s funeral. A memory of how fragile my mother appeared that da

Giles Catchpole on riverside ghosts

Somewhen back in the 1980s, I was sitting on the couch in my living room smoking weed and watching TV around 11 in the morning. Nothing unusual. (I had been toking for roughly 20 years by then.) A com

COME on, Auntie Jo – your turn!” Seven-year-old Sophie pushed the little cubes of wood across the table towards her aunt. Jo glanced at the clock and sighed. Still another 10 minutes before her niece