In many cultures rainbows are a symbol of hope. They appear sometimes as perfect arcs, often during a rainstorm, when the sun shines onto water droplets, shattering its white light into an array of brilliant colours. Everyone loves a rainbow. It produces that frisson of [...]
I love owls. We live in the countryside, surrounded by fields with sheep, rabbits, mice and the occasional fox, and woods with deer, a few badgers and masses of birds which also inhabit our garden. Sometimes at dusk, we listen to owls hooting across the woods and fields, and [...]
This time last week it snowed. Snow can be a big problem for elderly isolated people and stranded motorists but I defy anyone, when they open the curtains on the first morning after snow has fallen, not to gasp with [...]
My other half has decided to spend about three months this summer cruising in a small 32ft boat around the British Isles - some 2,500 miles. He has persuaded some other lunatics to join him at various points so he always [...]
I was driving along a country road in Somerset recently and I came across this delightful road sign, which I've not seen before. Ever since reading 'The Wind in the Willows', I've felt that toads were quirky, undignified and should [...]
I have recently returned from a short holiday in 'Paradise' - or to be more accurate a tiny island in an isolated atoll in a wide ocean - or to be more precise: Fonimagoodhoo Island in Baa Atoll in the [...]
January 2018 is memorable (or rather unmemorable) for having the longest number of sunless days and hours of any January since records began, so I'm told. It was a dark, dismal, dank month - and - to add adverbs (now [...]
At last my voice is beginning to return to how it used to be, though it still sounds pretty ragged to me at times. I lost it back in April and I'm disappointed that it is still strangely hoarse. [...]
Nine weeks ago I woke up, tried to say good morning to my darling husband and found I could not speak. I couldn’t even to croak - nothing! Very strange. My vocal cords had gone AWOL. The evening before, having [...]
I've just read a book by well-known author that was beautifully written, with an ingenious plot and memorable characters - but it did not have an ending. There was an intriguing story with tension, insights and twists but with no [...]