This is somewhat experimental in its style. This might not work for everyone. It's an attempt to capture an unforgettable night in Paris, apparently in search of love and actually finding it.

''Blackie'' is not really a story at all, but the detailed picture of a character I imagined on the basis of friends and relatives and a certain kind of culture in London and south-east England.

''The Umbrella'' is a mysterious true-life experience centered upon an umbrella and a slice of Parisian nightlife. I originally wrote it in French. This is my own translated version into English.

''Channel Ferry Crossing'' is about that ever-present unconscious search for the ''other'', how it surprises, confuses and angers us. It is, I think, an, illustration of psychological and existential problems that we all have, more or less.

''Days in Dar Es Salaam'' is about my time as a reporter in Africa, and the kind of situations I found myself in as a result of my work and travels when it came to recreation and finding some solace. This story is not for the 'politically correct' or uncompromising feminists.