Our dinner together that Thursday was special. Not only was it my wife's birthday, albeit celebrated two days late, but we both had lived to share the occasion. Her actual birthday had been lost during a hectic and horrible 24 hours earlier in the week. We were still on our holiday in France. At around…
This orderly life
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…
Open letter to Mother Nature
Dear Mother Nature, I write to you as both a citizen of the world and an individual. As a citizen I offer you my sincerest apologies for the awful behaviour of human society at large. The way we are depleting the ozone layer, destroying forests worldwide, and squandering irreplaceable natural resources is deplorable. For over…
Seeing the wood for the trees
Dotted around Kew Gardens are some twenty 'tree sculptures’ by David Nash. They come in all sizes, and sit variously in the middle of lawns, between bushes, or almost hidden in the undergrowth. Just finding them is fun in itself. They are being displayed, as the organisers say, in a 'Natural Gallery' and it works…
Thanks but no thanks
In our last house the railway ran along the back of the garden. Not exactly pleasant for us, but for Ravi, a toddler and train enthusiast, it was pure heaven. Whenever he visited he would stand on a chair by the window and watch spellbound as each train passed by. One day we went to…
In the pink
There were thirty of us gathered for the occasion. At one end of the room sat Martha, who was her calm, alert and smiling self. Next to her on a small table was a greetings card. It was from the Queen. Next day Martha would be one hundred. Three parties had been arranged for her:…
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…
Jubilee lines
In the end we were lucky. By starting at daybreak the window cleaners managed to squeeze us in. A few weeks earlier our roof had been repaired. The new slates were a picture, the insulation in the attic a relief, and the dirt in the house a nightmare. A thorough spring clean was not enough…
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