‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.’ – Desmond Tutu I planned to end the year with some kind of parody of popular, annual, reflective award ceremonies; here’s a few I had lined up: Best Performance by a Community in Crisis: North Kensington for Grenfell Tower Best … More Tidings of Comfort & Joy…?

‘With great privilege comes great responsibility’ – with apologies to Spiderman  One Friday night, many Octobers ago, I apparently arrived into the world to the warm whaler’s greeting: “Thar she blows!” My Dad’s exclamation may not have been the special, sacred moment of which most parents dream, but the largely inappropriate fact has been corroborated … More Another October

‘People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.’                                                   – Lesley Nicol – UK actress A Facebook friend recently had their ‘Significant’ Birthday.  No, not the momentous half century; the formidably … More Women of A Certain Age

‘It is the ordinary people who will determine how much impact is done in the world.’ – Chris Marlow; ‘Doing Good Is Simple;Making A Difference Right Where You Are’ In a week that has seen aggressive and toxic vitriol gush across my social media pages  in both the run-up and aftermath of the UK General … More The Surprising Goodness of People

“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”  – Louisa May Alcott No prizes for guessing which UK tabloid shouted this bleak headline at me while I was innocently minding my own business in a Surrey coffee shop recently.  It reminded me of the fawning henchmen in the Glen Close … More ‘How Scared Should we Be?’

‘Books are a uniquely portable magic’ – Stephen King I can’t remember learning to read, but I do remember growing up in a household full of books. Wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling books.  Everybody was always reading something; we began with Beatrix Potter and AA Milne.  My Dad positioned a modest bookcase on the landing so that … More Books Galore!

‘As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.’ – Nelson Mandela They say that Africa is not for sissies.  Apparently it’s not for those who expect everything to work smoothly either.  It’s not for adherents to the British Highway Code, the politically naïve, the Green … More Africa: sweet dream and/or beautiful nightmare?

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” – Winston S. Churchill Some of my closest friends approached 2016 with the words: ‘This will be a game-changing year.’  No kidding. A week on from another extraordinary election in the clearly ‘not-so-United’ States of America, and an aftermath of both dismay and … More Storms Across the Pond

{Playing in the garden with my two older sisters – late 1960’s} ‘Home is the nicest word there is.’  – Laura Ingalls Wilder The health of my Dad recently took a significant turn for the worse.  He was admitted to a care home for some respite care and I think both he and the rest … More The Long Way Home

‘“When do I give you your ticket?”’ Casper ten Boom to his daughter Corrie ¹ In the aftermath of Brexit, most of the UK, including myself, found ourselves waking up on 24th June to a new political landscape in which the universal unravelling of protagonists, from all spectrums of party politics, was absolute.  In the … More The Brexit Brouhaha