Blog
How to get old: A guide
I recall a celebrity of a certain age once recounting how, suddenly one day, she became aware of a weird rasping whisper that seemed to be following her around her kitchen. To her horror, on looking down, she realised the sound was coming from her slippers, as she...
The frustration is building up
I think I’m a nice person. I keep myself to myself. My street is similarly quiet and considerate, too, if you discount that outdoor evening disco thing last summer I’m hoping was a one-off. But if I offer up just seven little words, you will understand immediately why...
Making indoor coats de rigueur
As the sound of my husband’s ancient Honda fades away, I’m up and at it. Springing up from my computer, I go round turning down every radiator valve, apart from the one in my room. I work for myself from home - and like a lot of us, I’m doing it save money. I’ve read...
Long wait for comfort or joy
There she was, alone on a commode facing the window, entirely naked save for a thermal vest. This lonely figure, my mum – who only three weeks earlier was signing Christmas cards and laughing at Dad’s Army – stared back at my worried smile and asked quietly if I could...
Nothing’s going to stop my festive cheer
With grim news over the spread of the new Covid variant, I'd determined to make sure the bright, shiny event at the end of December doesn’t end up being a damp squib. I love Christmas when it’s here, but I’m not one of those people who puts their tree up in October....
Constant fear of the walk home
It started the minute I left St Peter’s Church in Ruddington. It was dark, and as I stepped out and walked down the path to the road, I went straight into alert mode. The meeting of the Ruddington Gardeners’ Association had been the first face-to-face get-together...
Our Emma inspires a generation
Did you stay up and watch the Emma Raducanu tennis match too? The Brit really wowed us, didn’t she? Even the Queen stayed up to pen her congratulations. It all started in Nottingham, of course. With Raducanu’s A-levels out the way, her first Women’s Tennis Association...
The power of sport
What an uplifting, heartening, electrifying and engaging summer of sport it’s been – enough to backflip you out of the armchair and keep you buzzing all year around. The cynics can sit this one out: I’m here to cheer on those whose physical and mental efforts,...
Time to stop these cruel scammers
There is no let-up from criminals determined to grab our money through scamming, even from elderly people like my mum. During lockdown, the conmen and women have taken full advantage of our move to online shopping. Fraud now accounts for a third of all crime in...