A statue tells several stories. One is its subject’s, one is of those who commissioned and created it, and one of how we understand and react to these other stories. Which is most important? Do I need to open this post with a statement about black lives mattering? Surely not… Some things are blindingly obvious, […]
Coronavirus: What I have in common with an oyster
Any noise annoys an oyster and a noisy noise annoys an oyster most. The stress of this coronavirus business is getting to us all, apparently. Around the world, those of us not on the front line of this battle are left stumbling around at home not quite knowing what to do with ourselves. Our amygdala […]
Coronavirus: What are we going to talk about today?
“Mum, you’ve said that four times already today.” “I have?” “Yes. You telling people that the quality of the chat is going to get pretty skinny pretty quickly.” That was back at the start of the Time We Couldn’t Believe Was Happening when even our astonishment was worth commenting on. How quickly we’ve got used […]
Coronavirus: How does this make you feel?
Living in a time of contraditions Saturday morning and obviously, there’s no football, no yoga, no lovely long bike rides to cafes, no cinema, no supermarket shop, nothing doing out there except a brisk walk. Nope. And we know this. It sucks. We know this too. While I gaze out onto quiet, still and silent […]
Coronavirus: It really is still only Wednesday…
Here’s what I learned today: Be careful what you wish for. Often in the olden days I wished that I could slow down time, that days would stop their break-neck hurtle. Yeah. That. Conversational quality is a spectrum. “Mum, that’s the fourth time you’ve said that and you saying how thin the chat is going […]




