I have to be honest, I am fretting. We are halfway through the final series of Call My Agent!, the highly entertaining French series about a talent agency in Paris. We have been watching one episode a night for weeks now and I don’t know what I’ll do with myself when it’s finished. Should we…
Emerging into the light
I have been idly wondering if I’ll emerge from lockdown a better person. I’d like to think that I will, but somehow I doubt it. Hardship is supposed to build character, but I have a feeling that when all this is finally over I’ll probably emerge pretty much the same, perhaps a bit podgier. Of…
Burning Questions
The number of things I don’t know is infinite. The list is long and inexhaustible, while the list of things I do know is fairly short – but I’m fine with that. I couldn’t begin to understand quantum physics and I wouldn’t want to acquire a knowledge of dentistry. Although that might have been handy…
A general lowering of standards
As I was dutifully vacuuming and dusting in anticipation of a visit from my mother, I started to think about how our standards have fallen in general over the past year. Well, mine have, anyway. Why bother to clean your house when there’s no one to see it? Why wash your hair when it’s covered…
Do we dare think about travelling again?
When we were first told to stay at home last March, I wasn’t really that bothered. We had recently enjoyed two long holidays in exciting places and I thought that being grounded for a while wasn’t such a bad thing. I was feeling a bit guilty about all those flights and thought that staying in…
My future as a shaman
Further to last week’s blog about growing older and wiser, I’ve decided to pursue a new career. I know that I’m technically retired, but I’m not quite ready to give up on the world of work yet. Paid work that is. I have more than enough unpaid work. I’m thinking about setting myself up as…
Brain salad
I like to tell myself that one of the compensations for growing older is that as we move through life we acquire wisdom, which we generously share with our grateful offspring and younger colleagues. The problem is that there is limited room in my brain, and space has obviously had to be made to accommodate…
Just say no to dry January
Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is counting the days until the end of January. Not because it’s a dark, dank month (although it undeniably is), but because she’s given up alcohol until February 1st. “Why?” I wanted to know. “Why have you decided to give up one of life’s remaining pleasures when…
Where did that travel budget go?
Apparently, there is a lot of unused money swishing about the country in the bank accounts of people who would normally have spent it travelling. I have searched our bank account, but can’t seem to find any trace of it. I don’t think we’ve been the victim of a scam – having resolutely resisted all…
It’s life, but not as we know it
As we enter what feels like our tenth lockdown by now – it’s all merged into one and I’ve lost count – I find I am struggling to remember what life used to be like. It’s as though we’re living in a strange dream-like state with no end and no beginning. Was there ever a…