…this ol’ Scots Jurassic scribbler is grateful for whatever Providence it was which compelled me to join my local library when I was only four years old…

…the Elder Park Public Library at Langlands Road in Dockside Govan in Glasgow seems an improbable  galaxy away from where I currently sit, perched in my writing eyrie in the Middle East (I live on the 44th level of a tower block encompassed by sand dunes and the waters of the Arabian Gulf – it’s almost high enuff to see Scotland from here!)… even at this distance in time, I can savour the delight and pleasure that leapt from the pages of the volumes borrowed from the junior section shelves…

…as my ability to devour older-pitched WURKS by my Authorial Gods, the Steinbeck-es, the Dickens-es, the Vernes-es, the O’Hara-es, the Umberto-es, the Ruark-es, the myriad legions of great writers, the deeper grew my…