Author James Thurber, who had very poor eyesight, once wrote a hilarious story called “The Admiral on the Wheel” about a time when he was forced to spend a few days without his glasses after his maid stepped on them and broke them…

I first heard about Airbnb back in 2011. “Do you have a spare room to let for the Royal wedding?” The question popped up on Facebook. Interesting, I thought, but who are Airbnb? My friends in the U.S. seemed to think it was a legit platform…

I have just handed a small fortune to my offspring to help them to buy properties and, in one case, to contribute towards IVF treatment. We all do it, if we are in a position to, of course. My mother was the same: she was generous to me…

We all know how important it is to keep active in our later years. It’s the catch-all remedy for any ailment you can think of, along with quitting smoking and eating healthily. And, of course, it is true: the older you get the more the muscles are prone…

Endings are fiendish things. In the old days, fictional endings were clearly defined, wrapped up, tied with ribbon and fastened in a neat bow. Shakespeare’s endings were unambiguous: tragedies ended in mass death, comedies ended…

Back in 2010, the British Guardian newspaper published a selection of angry letters from readers complaining about the increasing use of what they called ‘American slang’ in its articles. As one of them wrote…

I have always had a love-hate relationship with London. It’s the city I have lived in (almost) all my life. As a child, I found it horribly restrictive; I was never allowed beyond the front door on my own. When I went to stay with friends in the country…

Back in 2010 or so, having finally finished my first book (nonfiction about my family history in Australia) and knowing traditional publishers would be unlikely to take it on, I decided to self-publish it…

Although the original thought is “Youth is wasted on the young,” in my case, this was certainly true for education. I went to an all-girls private boarding school in rural Sussex in England, which even then – back in the late 50s/early 60s – was old-fashioned…

My annus horribilis began some time ago, right at the beginning of the year when I told my husband of 28 years that I wanted to separate. It was not a sudden decision on my part, but what surprised me, amazed me, was that it came as a total shock to my…