It’s a strange quirk of human nature that some of us are looking back on those lockdown weeks with a certain nostalgia. Of course for many it was a terrible time, but for others it’s now perceived as a period of enforced calm and blissful peace in which nothing was expected from them except to…
Month: August 2020
Drowning in a sea of photos
The great clear-out continues and I have reached the most feared job of all – sorting out years of photos. The actual physical ones I mean, and there must be thousands of the things. Some in piles, some in albums, some black and white blurred images, some large formal portraits. How many photos does a…
The joy of quitting or, better still, not even starting
I am one of those people who feels a compulsion to finish everything I start. Books once begun cannot be abandoned after 50 pages, no matter how dull. My plate must be cleared before I get up from the table. Every online course joined in a fit of enthusiasm must be seen through to the…
Godwottery
Recently my mother and I were chatting on the phone and realised that we were both admiring the butterflies on the buddleia bushes in our own gardens. Up to this point it had been a normal conversation, but then she suddenly exclaimed, “A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot.” “God what?” I said, “I…