A Disorderly Retirement
I know that winter is not universally popular. People in frosty northern places often welcome the first snow, but after a few months of freezing temperatures, slippery sidewalks, icy windscreens and piles of dirty snowbanks at the side of the road, winter starts to lose its appeal. In southern England it’s the rain we dread….
I‘ve just come back from a week in Italy. I went to visit a Canadian friend who was spending two months there. I hadn’t seen her since before the pandemic and I love Italy, so it was a perfect opportunity to spend time with an old friend in a beautiful country. Things don’t always go…
Age is a tricky thing to get your head round. From the age of about 25 onward I’ve never quite believed that I was as old as my birth certificate. Although I have to be honest, it’s looking pretty shopworn by now. As you get older, birthdays start to take you by surprise. Not another…
I have just come back from Boston, Massachusetts, where the leaves remained stubbornly green rather than glowing in fiery shades of red, orange and yellow as they should in the autumn. Still, the sun shone and it was perfect touring weather. The first thing dedicated tourists do in Boston is to embark on the Freedom…
Right now our news is dominated by stories of schools and hospitals on the point of collapse because they were built with substandard materials. Just to cheer us all up. They’re no longer ‘fit for purpose’ and probably never were. It’s making me wonder about the people who use these buildings – are we fit…
I’m sure we’re all grateful that people rarely use the cringey expression ‘getting down with the kids’ anymore and if they do it’s ironic, I hope. Older generations attempting to relate to younger ones is all very admirable, but I’m not sure it’s to be recommended. Who wants to be reminded of those times? I…
I was in Marks & Spencer’s the other day and was horrified to see that they no longer have people working at cash registers. It’s all self check-out now. There was one assistant for about 10 machines and (being me) I asked her if there were any tills left actually staffed by an employee. The…
I can remember writing some time ago about what a perfect day would look like. I seem to recall that Italian piazzas, bruschetta and prosecco featured prominently*, but I have written so many blogs over the past few years that I couldn’t find it among all the files. I was curious to see what I’d…
The moon seems to be getting an awful lot of attention these days. You might say it was enjoying its moment in the sun, but the moon is inscrutable, so who’s to say? It’s definitely excelling itself this month, with a super moon on 1st August and a blue supermoon to look forward to on…
Now that I’ve learned what quiddling means, I can in all modesty reveal that it’s one of my special skills. I have spent years honing the art and I am, I think, justifiably proud of the result. I have the wonderful etymologist Susie Dent to thank for this insight. According to her, quiddling means frittering…