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. Needless to say, 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.