Minds Went Walking

Sunday Blog 84 – 14th May 2023 This is the chapter I would have written for the Minds Went Walking- Paul Kelly’s Songs Re-imagined book if only I had been asked to contribute. Australian singer songwriter Paul Kelly is our Bob Dylan. Our Billy Bragg. Perhaps they sent me an invitation via email and I …

Two very heavy suitcases

Sunday Blog 82 – 30th April 2023 Between deciding to go and leaving, there was a two week period. I packed two very heavy suitcases for that brief trip to the UK to “lift my spirits”. It had been a long eight months, and after Summer had waned I’d endured Winter in snowy Thessaloniki in …

Only connect

Sunday Blog 78 – 2nd April 2023 “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.” Howards End, Chapter 22 Howards End began life as an Edwardian novel before being made into a movie with Emma Thomson, Helena …

Into the Vision Board…

Sunday Blog 72 – 19th February 2023 It’s not the first time that I’ve chosen a picture at random, put it onto a vision board and then see it come to life. There was the image of the Delphi temples I’d chosen years ago and put into my big annual vision board. I had somewhat …

The sound of a holiday ending

Sunday Blog 66 – 8th January 2023 As I covered up my mother’s swimming pool with its blanket, the wheel squeaked in a mournful kind of protest. It’s quite a big pool, and the sound grated for what felt like several long minutes. I was just about to take my brother and his adult daughter …

Homecomings and the spicy cough

Sunday Blog 56 – 9th October 2022 The suitcase was completely unpacked, the memory-foam neck cushion had its cover stripped for cleaning, the travel wash was flapping on the line, even the adaptor plugs were stored away. Why did I feel so discombobulated and not quite here? Travel is always a bit like that for …

Signing off from London

Sunday Blog 55 – 2nd October 2022 I’ve had such wild dreams about this holiday. I’m hoping it will… slough the layer of apathy off the layer of calm, and allow me to look many fears in the face… But I suppose the closer I get to the destination, the more I mistrust romantic notions …

Vale Hilary Mantel

Sunday Blog 54 – 25th September 2022 Recently I stumbled across this interview with Hilary Mantel from a couple of years ago where she asserts that writers can be productive by carving out just two hours per day. Admittedly these need to be golden hours where your energy is high and you’ve had enough time …