A lesson learned ….

A good few months ago I was at a friends house for supper. It's a regular, and cheerful, occasion, but this particular evening he was concerned about his neighbour. Ken and Sheila have been friends for many many years, and he asked me to pop next door and have a word with her, just to...

Me Too …

Last month an actress named Alyssa Milano called on women to  speak up about surviving sexual assault by using the hashtag 'Me Too'. Within seconds of tweeting the request she was inundated  with thousands of responses from women across the world. The campaign rapidly spread to Facebook, and it was there that I came across it for...

A morning walk

After a couple of grey wet days that felt never ending it was a joy to wake this morning to a perfect October day.  I think even my spaniel is beginning to lose enthusiasm for rainy day walks, but on mornings like this our hike through Dinefwr Park is a real joy. The Tywi Valley...

A word about Brittany …

I've not long come back from  a blissful couple of weeks spent on the Crozon peninsula. Sheltered between two much bigger headlands, the peninsula is situated on the west coast of Brittany, and is part of the region of Finistere. The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, Land's End,  but the Breton name...

Autumnal thoughts …..

I am finally walking properly again after a summer's worth of problems with a recalcitrant knee. I don't think I'll ever take walking for granted again ... it is the simplest of motions when all's well, and such a joy, but I have had to learn patience over the last few months.  At one point...

A sense of humour ….

I was at a dinner party on Saturday evening and a guest told a story that had me roaring with laughter, while the gentleman sitting opposite me seemed to be shocked to the core. I'm very aware that humour is deeply embedded in language and culture since it largely relies on a shared language and...

A postcard from the Dales

My friend Jo lives in the Yorkshire Dales in a place called Askrigg. It's a small stone built village folded into a corner of the magnificent hills around it, and has that look of sturdy permanence that comes from vernacular  architecture. This week I've been lucky enough to have Jo's house to myself while she...

What’s in a speck of dust?

Many years ago I read about The Borrowers, tiny people that lived under the floorboards who 'borrowed' sufficient to live on from the left overs of the human beings that inhabited the house.  They were great stories, and have now been made into a film, stories that captured my imagination. Of course there are a...

Of mice and men ….

The saying 'The best laid plans of mice and men, Gang aft agley (Often go astray)  comes from a poem by Robbie Burns called 'To a Mouse'. Burns was an 18th century Scottish farmer and poet, and reputedly wrote the poem after accidentally  destroying the nest of a small field mouse while he was ploughing....