She was having a tip-top grand old time, sitting on the high stool playing shop with the contents of the store cupboard. “Would you like one or two tins of peaches, madam?” “I’m sorry sir, we’re all out of eggs today.” “That will be twenty-six pence thank-you” Because there was no cash register, she made…

How does it make you feel when someone says your name out loud? Surprised? Special?

Geraldine tooted her horn and stayed in the car, the engine still running. “You’d better hurry up love. You know she’ll drive off without you if you make her wait.” Christine hurried past her mum, buttoning up her cardigan and shaking back her still wet hair, “You sure you don’t want to come too?” Patricia…

Like no-one’s watching. Earlier today I was walking unsteadily and hoping stupidly that no-one was watching me. After that I sat down at the piano for the first time in a year and hoped that no-one was listening.

He sat at the back, feeling like this was worse than story time at school. At least there was a carpet and the teacher didn’t try to do different, terrible voices. At least you saw her face. This time the changing voice of many accents was hidden. It sounded like a man but how could…

I watched Bridge of Spies again a couple of weeks ago and something stuck with me. When the lawyer defending Rudolf Abel, an alleged KGB spy, asks him if he is worried, he replies, ‘will it help?’ Of all the things I’d like to change about myself, giving up worrying is definitely top of the…

She could do it. Sure if she had got through being on the ward during the blitz, this was child’s play. They didn’t know that she had only been driving for two weeks, and hadn’t learnt how to put the car into reverse. She had never been to this house before. The lanes got increasingly…

Yesterday I stood outside a small independently run bookshop and didn’t go in. I could have introduced myself and talked about the books I’ve published.

He checked the empty windows. He listened for approaching footsteps but he guessed he’d be in luck. The fuss his sister was making over her Sunday outfit was distraction enough for everyone else. He held his breath, reached up his grubby hand to the key and turned it. Click. He was free! No church for…

With both hands. Last week I was struggling to stand up and get things done. When my two washed and dried the dishes, when my other half did countless tasks for me, I was overcome with a feeling of being cared for.