There is a whole lot of baloney talked about how failure is the new success, and, as far as I can make out, the only people who spout it are those who succeed in the end: the ‘it makes me stronger, wiser, more determined’ brigade. The learning that comes from failure is lauded as something … Continue reading Keeping The Dream Alive
On the days when the batteries in my legs have run low, or when I know it is going to be a particularly beautiful evening, I save my daily walk until late in the day and venture out for a shorter stroll up Calton Hill. It is a still night. Cawing seagulls, a waspish buzz … Continue reading For We Ha’e Faith
I once knew a woman whose ambition it was to play the harp but life and raising a family got in the way so she told me she would play it when she got to heaven instead. I have not seen or thought about this person for thirty years until this week, when I heard … Continue reading What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
It’s great fun to be part of lively debate and discussion; whenever there’s a gathering it’s enjoyable to join in, add your tuppence worth to the review and scrutiny of what’s going on in the world, but don’t you ever get tired with it all? Don’t you ever get to a state of analysis paralysis … Continue reading The Hole In Reason’s Ceiling
I’m finding it hard to let go of the weekend. It was such a lovely one, pink whipped morning skies and trails of orange cloud by evening; the evening (when measured by the availability of light) being 3.30pm. Neither my mind nor body have quite made it to Monday and I’m hankering to be back … Continue reading Pigs Might Fly
“When we lose that sense of the possible, we lose it fast.” Joan Didion, Blue Nights. I understand what she’s saying. For me it’s like the tide coming in on a sandcastle: one minute it is standing firm and the next its foundations have been eaten away and down it goes in one a lurching collapse. … Continue reading Possibility
This is the time of year for pruning apples trees; making sure they are not too leggy or spindly, lessening their susceptibility to disease. Had I been feeling more like myself last week, I’d have had a go at the big tree at home, it has too many limbs! Apparently you can prune them on … Continue reading Pruning
My Edinburgh Press 