Other men will stop and talk; / but the walking man walks.  So sings James Taylor.  I understand he was referring to his dread of changing seasons, but I took another meaning from those words… Over the past few years, and especially of late, I have been fretting over my lack of friends, and the…

I am not a decisive person.  In fact, you could say that indecision is one of my most persistent and frustrating flaws: from the superficial to the crucial, I am terrible at making my mind up. For example, it always takes me just a few minutes too long to answer my husband when he asks…

Reading my dad’s ‘African Memoirs’ with all the (albeit embellished!) tales of his time working in Sierra Leone in the ’60s, my pride of his adventurous spirit was mixed with a sense of shame at my lack of one.  It got me thinking about all of the amazing pioneers amongst my ancestors – my mum…

When I was about 8, my cousins decided that we would pitch a tent in the woods behind our holiday home, and camp out overnight.  During the day leading up to that, it seemed like a fun, adventurous idea, but by the time evening came, I wasn’t so sure.  I remember a growing knot in…

“This too shall pass”, “it’s just a phase”, “look for the good in it” etc etc etc. Particularly of late, I seem to have been on the receiving end of a lot of comments like these.  At least one a day I would say.  Mostly, they irritate me, and I use some misguided superiority of…

Reading The Little Red Hen to Samuel two nights ago, I was reminded of a truly valuable life lesson. Ignoring the fact that I am furthering my education solely through children’s books now, it was surprisingly effective.  All of the little red hen’s farm-yard companions repeatedly refuse her appeals for assistance with planting, threshing, grinding…

There’s a hilarious Father Ted episode where he tries to undo a small dent in a borrowed car, and ends up completely hammering it beyond all recognition.  Tap tap tap, just a wee bit more here, a wee bit more there, and it turns into a write-off.  I think I found it funny because I…

Terrible title, I know, but I’m waiting to come across a better way of putting it.  My reasons for it  – the emperor thought he had everything, when he had nothing, sometimes I think the reverse about myself. Recently, I’ve had a growing realisation that maybe my frequent hankering after unfulfilled aspirations and possible plans…

“We’re like ships that pass in the night!” I quipped to my neighbour as we lugged our children out of the car and into our prospective houses.   But it got me thinking:  how many encounters do I have every day that are like that, and how many of those are in any way significant? I…