As many will already know, I love my summers in Tréguennec. The more obvious pleasures come from the garden, the weather, the culture, the friendships and, of course, the fresh produce - the fish and meat couldn’t be bettered. But there is more; being here gives learning French added poignancy, offers a vantage point from…

The Coronavirus pandemic has wrought havoc everywhere. Like everyone else, I faced the challenges in my own particular way and being locked up in London for months changed how I saw both myself and others. Here is a very personal account.  Although I shared confinement with my wife, Rohan, I still felt vulnerable. Whatever I…

On one of our early morning ‘lock-down’ walks, Rohan and I met a neighbour walking his dog. After the usual greetings and the now standard enquiries about health, Andy asked if I could clarify a medical issue for him. He, as a worried husband, was keen to understand how blood tests are used to detect…

Sometimes I do things I can’t explain, perhaps more precisely I can’t justify. This blog tells of just such an instance. It might be the result of being cooped up for three months but that would probably be too simple. The fact is that I have just adopted a tree which, when I can, I…

Like everyone else, it is often difficult for me to know whether or not a childhood memory is genuine. The problem is that some of my ‘memories’ are based on events lifted from family photos or stories rather than on first-hand experience. This blog, however, is about a memory I know to be real; after…

 As creatures of habit, at four o’clock each day we drink tea with our neighbours. In the same spirit, two or three times each week we now share a sit-down meal with family or friends. Dealing with the government’s demand for social-distancing in public is difficult, even harder is being separated from those whom we…