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I used to work with a Health & Safety manager with a wry sense of humour. When I accused him of being a ‘glass half-empty’ sort of person he replied …

Glass half-full Read More

Today I mowed the lawn for the last time. I don’t know if this year has been unusual in the West Country but the grass has grown relentlessly since Spring. …

The last cut Read More

Friends visiting for the weekend commented “It was amazing – within five minutes of arriving people had introduced themselves, offered us something to eat and drink and given us a …

Community matters Read More

Today I cried. I cried as I tried, and failed, to erect the rotary washing line in the garden. I no longer have the strength in my arms nor the …

Today I cried Read More

(Warning: this blog contains strong Christian content) It was an overcast day in 2010 and looking up I saw an elderly couple walking towards me along the canal bank. The …

Hope for sale Read More

We have become sheep farmers. Well, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but we have joined a merry band of locals that look after the community flock of …

Channelling my inner #33 Read More

One of my favourite cartoons is by Birkett, which first appeared in Punch magazine. It shows a group of Daleks, stymied by a flight of steps, lamenting its impact on …

Sympathising with Daleks Read More

The post of Poet Laureate is up for grabs as the current incumbent, Carol Ann Duffy, completes her ten-year term this year. You can’t apply for the job; instead the …

Living by still waters … and a bottle of sherry Read More

I have a friend who works in marine insurance. Given it can take up to twenty minutes for a laden supertanker to come to a halt, collisions involving these leviathans …

Noa Joy Read More

At the beginning of November 2017 we packed up the house in Loughton that we had lived in for twenty years and set off on our adventures. Today, exactly fifty …

When a home becomes a house Read More