The Best Part Of My Day
The best part of my day is in the early morning. I got into the habit of rising early when the children were small. It was the only time I…
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I visited a nuclear power station last week. We were on holiday in Suffolk, and the weather was uninspiring. Being science geeks, we headed to Sizewell B to check out…
Why I Love Swimming Outdoors
People say I’m crazy, but I love swimming outdoors. Preferably in a lake, or a river, or the sea. It might be a bit chilly, or muddy, but nothing beats…
Knots in Your Life
D’you ever feel like you’ve got knots in your life? Not nice, tidy functional knots like the ones Boy Scouts tie. I’m thinking about big, gnarly, lumpy knots. The sort…
Abortion: An Uncomfortable Subject
Warning: this blog and the poem it includes may upset some people. Abortion has been in the news recently, with plenty of people sharing their opinions on my social media…
Cunning but not strong: How a neighbourhood fox helped me cope with war anxiety
These are worrying times, aren’t they? Since Putin started rattling his nuclear sabre, I've been struggling with war anxiety. I’ve had some difficult nights, tossing and sweating and waking up…
The Last Midwife: My NaNoWriMo 2021
It sounded like an insane idea, trying to write 50,000 words of a new novel in the month of November. My life was busy enough already, wasn’t it? I was…
Letting the Light In: Chapter Seventeen: Communication and Confidence
As Martha passed her first birthday and continued to grow, our focus was increasingly on her communication and development. Her health was generally good now. She had occasional heart check-ups…
Look at the faces of the little angel to the left of centre and the shepherd above. They have Down Syndrome.
Letting The Light In: Chapter Fifteen: You Only Have To Love This Child
Christmas was approaching fast. Martha would soon be one year old. Outwardly we were doing ok. Martha was robust and thriving now. We were enjoying a busy round of weekly…
Martha with her siblings at Center Parcs, August 2007
Letting the Light In: Chapter Eleven: A Summer of Waiting
It was a strange summer of waiting. We took Martha to the Royal Brompton Hospital in London where she was reviewed in their outpatient clinic. We were told we would…
Letting the Light In: Chapter Eight: The Changeling and the Moon
A changeling is a fairy, troll or elf left in a cradle in place of a human infant stolen by the fairies. The alien creature exchanged for the lost baby…
Letting the Light In: Chapter One: Another Baby
I had other plans for that day. The baby wasn’t due for another two weeks. It was a Saturday morning, and I was going to take Jerome and Verity, aged…
Fifty Word Bible
I have always loved the Bible. It’s been part of my life for longer than I can remember. Recently I had the idea of trying to re-tell Bible stories in…
Publishing My First Book – A Lockdown Adventure
I have just published my first book, thanks to Covid 19! 2020 has been a year of challenges for us all. It has been a year of dealing with disappointment…
Whose Fault? The Costs of a Blame Culture
Whose fault will it be if Christmas is cancelled this year, the Government’s or the people’s? I keep seeing memes like this on social media. Trying to apportion blame for…
Unfollow: Lessons from Westboro Baptist Church
‘We have nothing to learn from these people’ I recently read Unfollow, the autobiography of Megan Phelps-Roper. It was my most inspirational read this year. Megan’s beloved grandfather was the…
The Artist’s Way – finding space to play
“I teach people to let themselves be creative” – Julia Cameron Several months ago, just before the Coronavirus lockdown, my coach Rosemary suggested I have a look at “The Artist’s…
My Lockdown Camino de Santiago
Number one on my bucket list is my heartfelt desire to complete the long version of the Camino de Santiago. Five years ago I walked the final 100 kilometres of…
Hope in the Box: How my hedge helped me feel better about Coronavirus
You are probably familiar with the legend of Pandora’s box. When it was opened, plagues and terrors were unleashed upon humanity. Only hope remained within. We could all do with…