There is much to be said about having an ordinary life. Ordinary in the sense of balanced, not disastrous, not crazy successful. Just one day at a time of comfortable normality. I have come to realize that the pattern of ordinary days brings contentment. Simplifying those days and eradicating the hectic as much as possible […]

I rather like Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks. I like her approach to eating – it’s all about enjoyment. Eating at Nigella’s house must be a bit larger than life, but you’d certainly be allowed to enjoy what you eat and I don’t think she really does ‘diet’ at all. No fuss enjoyment – all rather refreshing, […]

This year has got off to a quiet, gentle start. This is mainly the result of my back injury – which is healing nicely, thank you for asking – but also I’ve been working quite a lot, which keeps me at home and stops me accepting many invitations. Not being able to do sport at […]

The children went back to school today, so I was up at 6 to make sure that they all headed for their trains with breakfast inside them and wearing appropriate clothing and without forgetting their holiday homework. It’s amazing how much I get done when I’m up at 6 in supervising mode and simultanously whizzing […]

The pace of my life is very slow at the moment. Enforced slowness, but for all that, not bad. Part of me longs to be rushing around, skiing and running, but another part of me is enjoying the enforced quietness of life. Even the children seem to have quietened and are reaching for books rather […]