Some people are neat and tidy. So when my wife asks if I could bring her a blouse or some socks or whatever from her wardrobe, I know that I am about to be shamed. Everything on the shelves or in the drawers is laid out carefully, folded neatly and arranged logically. And the same…
Organ recitals
Concerns about illness are normal at my age. In fact, they are so everyday that symptoms are discussed by guests around the dinner table in the now customary 'organ recital' slot. Chronic symptoms are in some ways old friends. It is the new ones that raise alarms. Do they herald something sinister? Will they get…
Life in Venus
Some weeks ago my wife gave me a postcard. She had bought it after visiting our local museum of regional history and the picture was of a slim, young, nude, woman. She was made of terracota, was about 20 cms high and around two thousand years old. In keeping with her demeanor, the legend on…
Never mind the cake
Reading others' minds is something we do all the time. And although we use as many clues as possible - words, body language, general comportment and a knowledge of the person him or herself - getting it right is often difficult. Such judgements are so much part of the way we communicate, that I assume…
The apprentice’s tale
It was a most unexpected ending to the day. Rather than feeling joyful, that afternoon was filled with sadness. We had been building a wall on and off for twelve months; it was the year's big project. Then the work was done, the site was cleared, and it was time for saying goodbye. I didn’t…
Animal antics
It was part of my job to set exams. One year I decided on a new approach – I would write questions that came at the curriculum from new angles. Within an hour of the exam finishing, angry students had arrived at my door. I had tricked them. Generations of students before them had analysed…
French without tears
It took some time to realise what was happening and it was wonderful. On the Wednesday of my week in Paris I had been to a film and had understood most of what was said. By the Friday, understanding spoken French was almost second nature. After six years, something had clicked. In aeroplane terms, I…
Fleeting memory
‘Quick’. ‘Look’. ‘Top of the trellising’. And there they were, just two metres away, a pair of goldfinches. I knew that they were around, we had talked about them often, but this was the first time I had actually seen them, and in our own garden too. They were small (shorter than a robin), and…
The fox, the heron and the financial adviser
We have often wondered what was knocking over the metal statue of a heron that stands on the garden table at the back of the house. Not every day, more like once a month, but even so a mystery. Now, thanks to the recent snowfall, the crime is solved - it is the local fox.…
Face values
When it comes to paintings, I want to feel at one with their colours and forms, be seduced into stopping and staring and be moved emotionally. And in all this it is the picture itself that is dominant. When, how, and by whom it was painted is of secondary importance, as indeed is its price.…
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