Yesterday was the end of the financial year at work, and I’m pleased to report that I made it in one piece. When I think of everything that’s happened over the last year, that seems an achievement in itself! I delivered the last remaining milestone reports on time, then came home with a throbbing headache […]
Last time I spent a day at the pottery, two months ago, I was throwing some vases on the potter’s wheel. Spring is coming, and I’d rather like to have some flowers around the house to cheer me up. I was back there again today, working on the next stage. I find it takes at […]
Christopher and I really used to enjoy going to Alan Ayckbourn plays. It didn’t really matter whether they were professional productions in Malvern, Worcester, or on occasions London, or am-dram affairs in a village hall somewhere, we would always make an effort to go. Indeed, provided we recalibrated our expectations, the amateur productions (often with […]
I really wanted to go to see The King’s Speech, and not only because it stars Colin Firth – though that is of course a major attraction 🙂 Malvern Cinema was showing the film a few weeks ago, but I wasn’t able to get to see it at the time. I was too tired after […]
Ever since we first got together, I’ve become something of a closet potter. It was all Christopher’s doing originally – he’d always wanted to understand how to throw a pot on a wheel. So for one of our first holidays together he booked us a week on a pottery course down in Cornwall. The idea […]
Malvern used to be a spa town back in the Victorian age, but that all died away many decades ago, and the old bath houses for the Water Cure are all now banks and blocks of flats. However, a few years back an ambitious developer decided to build a brand new spa in the town. […]
On the boat in Venice we had a “Gala dinner” on Christmas Day. After the main course (no, not turkey – beef wellington which I don’t think I’ve had before but was pretty good) the Purser made some announcements. First, there were two couples on board who were celebrating wedding anniversaries. They each got a […]
It took a while to decide what I should do for Christmas this year. I knew that, whatever I did, I was likely to find it difficult, but I also wanted to mark it in some appropriate way. In the end it was my Gran who spurred me into action – she sent me a […]
Imagine the following scenario: Someone who is highly allergic to feathers books a short break at a comfortable but idiosyncratic hotel, making sure to specify “no feather pillows or bedding” on the booking. On arrival they check the pillow and duvet. Hmmm, seem to be microfibre. That’s ok. Off they go to a birthday dinner […]
Chris and I really enjoyed going to the theatre, and even while he was ill we made an effort to keep up the trips. If I stopped doing all the things I used to enjoy, just because I’m worried about stirring up upsetting memories, I’d hardly get out at all. So I determined that I’d […]
