I glanced only casually at the sign just as we reached the beach, but the message was crystal clear: ‘No dogs’ in Helvetica and in capital letters. Under it, a symbol of a dog crossed out, just in case. I was excited about the beach, in the same way I was as a kid,...

Like everyone, I have my list of things I want to do and places I want to go once normal life resumes. It involves theatre trips with my pal Amanda, swapping overdue Christmas gifts with Cath and Fiona and gazing at gaily coloured embroidery threads in John Lewis’s...

I’ve been experiencing a tremendous feeling of release as we come out of lockdown. The trouble is, I’m unsure what to make of my new-found freedom as I emerge stumbling into the sunshine. Arranging to meet friends face to face again and finally exchange Christmas...

The vandalism at Ruddington’s Great Central Railway, Nottingham, eight days ago seems to me particularly cruel and mean-spirited. The heritage centre, run entirely by volunteers, had 112 windows of its old rolling stock smashed, with the damage estimated at £80,000. I...

I am standing on my doorstep, spatula in hand, two metres away from someone I have never met before, shouting tips on how to stay safe when delivering leaflets. This was just one of a bizarre series of meetings which came about after a remarkable response to a plea on...

From the throbbing heart of my burgeoning one-woman business empire – an office chair in front of the iMac every morning – I’m definitely beginning to detect a mood of brisk, get-things-done optimism in the air. It might be the new year, or new decade, or even...

‘Christmastime’, they used to call it – but Christmas has always felt more like a place than a time, to me. It’s like an island, somewhere off the shore of the ordinary year, which we’re summoned to by some mysterious signal. Its landscape is piled up with memories,...

Cities are full of stories – and growing up in Nottingham means my own small adventures are filled with memories of my home city. It’s a place that’s made a great contribution to literature, of course, so I’m excited to be playing a tiny part in a curious celebration...

I love autumn deeply and after some of the hot days we have endured in recent weeks, I’ve never looked forward to it more. The shorter, sharper, cooler days let me think more clearly, and appreciate again the distinct joys of being indoors, and...