Sign in

John Alex Taylor

@johnunworded.bsky.social
436 followers 524 following 743 posts

Author, Apples in the Dark series. Contemporary fiction drawn from my own experience of epilepsy. Ex-social care worker, believer in people. South Wales is my home. Returning Cymraeg learner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 linktr.ee/wordswithjohn

PostsRepliesMedia
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's satisfying to get all your ducks in a row. (They're sitting on a submerged wall.) Anyone looking VERY closely will see lots of Mallards and a single female Mandarin Duck. Maybe she thinks she's a Mallard.
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I'm making a start on a second draft of Apples in the Dark 3 after leaving it to settle for a month. And the fresh air at Parc Bryn Bach is helping me flex my writing wings.
Mallard having a stretch in the shallows at Parc Bryn Bach, Tredegar.
020
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society @letterappsoc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It’s the physical idiosyncrasy of letters that bots and AI can just never replicate… 😄🤖✉️💛
0235
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Has Nigel or his mates been caught on camera accepting foreign money to pay the expected fine for accepting foreign money yet?
31017
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
It could be a bird's wing.
Beautiful cloud formation after sunset.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Busy in town.
Pigeons on a roof.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Moonrise.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Llantwit Major. Not shown: a visit to Kath's wonderful Bardic Books. Books may have been purchased.
Llantwit Major beach in the afternoon sun after rain.
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Painted Lady Butterfly. One creature that doesn't seem put off by the weather. I've seen more this summer than ever before. Amazing that they migrate all the way from North Africa.
010
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
TONIGHT, its the 40th @clarkeaward.bsky.social ceremony, and our very own @rainewilson.bsky.social is one of the finalists with her cli-fi novel THE SALT ORACLE! We wish all of the finalists the best of luck for this evening! (But especially Raine!) Buy: geni.us/saltorac
1389
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Sun through wildfire smoke from our bedroom window. Thinking of all the emergency workers putting in extra shifts.
Wildfire on Llangynidr Moor, about 3 miles away.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It's been a while since I last typed these words. First draft of Apples in the Dark 3 more-or-less complete. Now to put it away for a month or two and get on with some different writing – provided the characters will leave me alone.
'The End'
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I love to see the Purple-loosestrife, one of the last plants to come into bloom along the canal.
A clump of purple-loosestrife beside the canal at Gilwern, South Wales.
010
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Max B 💙 🔶 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 @maxbrockbank.com · 16/07/2026
Canvassers out in force in Clacton.
411188348
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Beautiful native water lillies at Parc Cwm Darran a couple of days ago. We went early to avoid the heat – and it was still hot!
021
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Lots of flittering in the garden at the moment.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Swanning around Parc Bryn Bach, where I was writing this morning.
Six cygnets swimming in a line between their parents.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Sizzling sky.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
The head teacher will see you now.
Jackdaw looking mean.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
I love our back garden.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This lovely and awe-inspiring film shows that given the right common goal, human beings can work together in peace. Patiently and for years and years and years. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
bbc.co.uk
The Hadron Collider: In Search of the Peace Particle
A film that blends remarkable access to the Large Hadron Collider with poetry, music and rare archival footage to explore a place where science, politics and culture collide.
000
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Plaid Cymru @plaidcymru.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Why are our energy bills so high when we generate more electricity than we use in Wales? 🤯 Plaid Cymru is fighting for devolution of the Crown Estate, so that our communities can benefit from our own natural wealth. 💪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
59938
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Debi Alper @debialper.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Deadline to save £100 on the self-edit course is midnight tonight! 717 alumni and well over 100 now published. Join us!
021
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Dr Farbod @emergencybod.medsky.social · 04/06/2026
He doesn’t care about Henry Nowak. He didn’t care about Sarah Everard. He cares about the headline. The fresh wound he can pick at until it bleeds votes. Not leadership. Not justice. Not grief. Just the same old grift. He's a charlatan. A fraud. A conman. He's a revolting opportunist.
A political comparison graphic split into red and blue halves, titled vertically “HYPOCRISY?”

Left side: “March 2021 - Sarah Everard Murder” with a small photo of Nigel Farage and the quote: “We must not allow the tragic murder of a young woman turn into attacks on men and attacks on the police.” Source: Nigel Farage, 14 March 2021.

Right side: “June 2026 - Henry Nowak Murder” with a photo of Farage speaking at a podium and the quote: “I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage.” Caption below says this was responding to police handcuffing dying stabbed student Henry Nowak.

Bottom text reads: “Same Leader. Different Victims. When it fits the narrative → Pure Cold Rage. When it doesn’t → Don’t attack the police.”
613972
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Tonight's Moonrise.
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
The great quilt in the sky?
Strange cloud formation this morning.
040
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Now, that is showing off! 🐝
Bumblebee on a poppy.
000
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
putawomanincharge.bsky.social @putawomanincharge.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I post this daily. He is.
36021
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Flying out of the frame. He was perched on the fence when I took my phone out!
Male Mallard taking off.
2101
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Making the most of a sunny interval.
Walk around Gilwern, South Wales.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
A magical morning at Cwm Darran. The first time I've heard the haunting, wild call of the Curlew in years ❤️
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Up on top of the world.
Just a few miles from home. Keeper's Pond on top of Blorenge, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
040
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Almost May, but the May Trees got there first.
Hawthorn trees heavy with blossom along the canal.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Two siskins on my bird feeder – soon to be taken down in line with the latest RSPB advice. I'll keep feeding fat balls.
000
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage.
A woman answers the door.
We have come for the child, says the hooded figure
So soon? she asks
It is time, says the hooded figure.
The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card!
What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure
We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! 
For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness
Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman,
the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them.
Do not cry mother. 
I am a writer now.
4647811698
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
chiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 18/04/2026
This is a human rights issue. You can't have different laws for #disabled people leasing a car, than you would have if an able person leases a car. #Disability #Motability #Pip www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/cost-of...
Motorists will be required to install black
boxes in their vehicles and download an
application to the mobile phone of every
person who drives the car. Vehicles will
be fitted with telematics equipment that
tracks driving conduct, including velocity
and braking habits, producing a weekly
rating of green, amber or red.

Those who receive four red ratings over
12-month timeframe could face removal
from the Motability programme. A pilot
scheme in Northern Ireland last year
resulted in vehicles being taken away
from 300 individuals. The scheme has
now confirmed that if someone receives
a 'red' week alert, followed by the same
rating for two successive weeks, they
could lose their car.



Motability has confirmed it will capture
and transmit a driver's exact position
heading and present velocity; trip length;
braking and turning manoeuvres; mobile
telephone use, including handset make
and identification number and software
platform, while behind the wheel: and
device background positioning via
network and GPS. In a fresh statement
Motability has acknowledged that 'high
usage' during a week can trigger a red
alert. but stressed there are 'no limits' on
the number of journeys. The organisation
added that if elevated usage alone
prompts a red score, 'it will not impact the lease'
1412061
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Beeeee.
Bee on our apple tree blossom.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
It's that time of year again. You'll just have to imagine the scent.
Wild Garlic and Bluebells in Cwm Clydach.
000
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Ripples.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Anyone fancy a dust bath?
House sparrows wallowing in the flower bed.
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Thank you to all at @gladlib.bsky.social for you wonderful hospitality, delicious food, comfortable beds and the peace and space to write, to read, to think and to meditate. Volume three of my Apples in the Dark trilogy is now close to completion in first draft.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Morning ablutions.
Blackbird more-or-less emptying the bird bath with a vigorous shake of his wings.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Yes, Mr Gladstone, I will sort out this muddle. Writing in my favourite place, @gladlib.bsky.social
Reading room, Gladstone's Library.
020
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Morning glory. I don't regret waking up before six on the Equinox.
Gilwern before sunrise, Spring Equinox.
041
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
What's up, you say? The Moon. At Cardiff Museum.
A seven-metre model of the moon suspended in the atrium of Cardiff Museum.
030
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
One of our quieter neighbours.
Heron in the reeds.
030
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
479175785159
Reposted by John Alex Taylor
Emma Darwin @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Have any of these tools sunk out of sight in your tool-kit? Worth having a rootle and reminding yourself how they work? emmadarwin.substack.com/p/darwins-tw...
012
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Blue sky – Awyr las 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Bridge and blue sky reflected in the canal, Gilwern.
010
John Alex Taylor @johnunworded.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
And now we have a clap of thunder. What's your next trick, February? (Sound on for rain on the window – I missed the thunder.)
010