Something A Bit Different

The Sir Alexander Fleming Mural at The Corner, Darvel with artist Rogue One.

I’m trying something new.

Over the next week I’ll be posting a short series of blogs titled The Unwalked Path. Together they add up to around 8,500 words and form a single, connected piece.

I live in Darvel, a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a rich and sometimes surprising history, but it is best known as the birthplace of Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin in 1928. A miracle drug, and the first in a line of antibiotics that has arguably saved more lives, and reduced more human misery, than any other. We are proud of his connection to the town.

This is a work of fiction, but I have tried hard to make it feel authentic — to the place, and to what we know of Fleming’s character. He was a serious and gifted scientist, but also playful, with an impish sense of humour. More than anything, he seems to have had a deep sense of humility and belonging — qualities that feel rooted in the place he came from.

The Unwalked Path is an imagined story. A ‘what might have happened’ tale.

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@ Copyright 2026 Steve Gillies. All rights reserved.