It has been my ‘lot’ in life to always look younger than I am. It doesn’t help that I am also small. There are a number of people like me about. I am sure we would all agree that it was terrible when we were younger…

Last Monday, I went for my weekly swim. My husband went to the optician for an annual eye check. On Tuesday, he had a meeting to discuss a dodgy mole, and I had an appointment with the dental hygienist. On Thursday, I did yoga…

As winter slowly turns into spring, most people turn their thoughts to warmer weather, flowers in the park and, probably, the birds and the bees. These are all good things to welcome, in my view. But what I really like in the late spring, right up to the summer solstice…

I heard an expression the other day that stopped me in my tracks. It had the ring of a famous saying, although that turned out not to be the case. But more importantly, it had some real profundity. It said, simply, “Life ends in the middle of a sentence…

I have never been an up-to-the-minute sort of person. It takes time for the latest thing to filter itself down to my consciousness. Even the not-so-latest thing. So, forgive me if I admit that I never really knew much about life coaches at all…

When most of us were young, there were very few ways of communicating with people who didn’t live nearby. There were handwritten letters (remember them?), there was the house phone, and, in an emergency…

Not long ago, my husband said rather casually to me, “I wish I knew when I was going to die.” An important wish, indeed. He is 81. But his concern was neither spiritual nor existential. He was wondering whether it was worth his while to have a knee…

When I was young, I used to think that things sort-of worked out in the course of a life. I mean things, like your pots and pans and your cutlery and your living room furniture. I imagined you bought all this stuff when you were young and then they were just…

I am exceedingly clean. I take a shower every morning and a bath every night. I wash in all the right places. My mother would be proud of me. But all this bathing has nothing to do with getting clean. There are so many other reasons to pursue these activities…

How often do you have one of ‘those days’ when things just seem to go very wrong? I am not talking about days of world crises or when you find out that you or a loved one has some dreadful illness or accident. I am talking about trivial stuff…