PARADISE REGAINED

PARADISE REGAINED

For those of you who read my last blog post about the tragedy of my beloved piano, I have a happy update. 😊 Yes, paradise has indeed been regained! Thank you, Sir Milton, for lending me those pertinent words, even if they are almost four hundred years old. And talking of pertinent words from the [...]

LIVING WITHOUT YOU

LIVING WITHOUT YOU

Probably everyone who’s reading this post will have experienced some kind of loss by now, whether it be for a beloved pet, a close relative, a friend, a partner, or another type of loss entirely. Like everything in life, there are various gradations of sorrow. I was eighteen when my grandmother died. It was a [...]

A Life Imperfectly Lived – ‘Lessons’ by Ian McEwan

A Life Imperfectly Lived – ‘Lessons’ by Ian McEwan

Before going any further, how about this quote to make you sit up and reflect. 'How easy it was to drift through an unchosen life, in a succession of reactions to events.' So, did it make you sit up and reflect? If not, then perhaps Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Lessons, will not be your cup [...]

Bollocks to New Year’s Resolutions!

Bollocks to New Year’s Resolutions!

‘Nearly everything that happens to you in life you forget. Should have kept a journal.’ I came across those words while reading Ian McEwan’s latest novel, ‘Lessons’, and they lifted my mid-winter spirits astronomically. Why? Because keeping a journal is at least one New Year’s Resolution I don’t have to worry about, seeing as I’ve [...]

Halloween – there and then; here and now

Halloween – there and then; here and now

Here we are again. Another October, with russet-golden leaves coating pavements, parks, avenues and riverside walks in mellow autumn hues. Sunday, October 29th. That’s today. The clocks have just gone back, and the scary-creepy-scary day is almost upon us. The fancy dress party day. The horror movie-watching day. Scream day. Yup, it’s Halloween time again! [...]