“Could you send me the name of the wine you brought when you came for dinner the other night?” Ping. Back came an immediate response: “Canny Mind.” Gone are the days of wines being named after the vineyard, the land where the grapes are grown or the winemaker himself. Château Des Maures, Cloudy Bay and … Continue reading Canny Mind
To pursue whatever you set your mind to with the joy of a six year-old child: that’s said to be how we should seek to live. This supposes that every six-year old child embraces all of life joyfully, which they probably don’t, as personality and nature come into play. Largely, though, small children do seem … Continue reading Innocence
I opened an old journal the other day and out fell a dried, pressed leaf, small and red; so dry that the edges crumbled when I handled it. I studied the entry dates of the journal to find a clue as to the provenance of the leaf, perhaps I’d picked it up in Canada. I … Continue reading Nurture Your Quirks
‘Men grow cold as girls grow old, And we all lose our charms in the end, But square cut or pear shape these rocks don't lose their shape, Diamonds are a girl's best friend,’ Am I shallow? Of course I am, because I know Marilyn was right: every girl, including me, does love a diamond (or … Continue reading Aspirational Bed Linen
“It was Christmas Eve babe In the drunk tank An old man said to me, won't see another one And then he sang a song The Rare Old Mountain Dew I turned my face away And dreamed about you” (Fairytale of New York, The Pogues) “Is anyone going to help me peel this bottomless bag … Continue reading Can’t Make It All Alone
Yesterday, I was the recipient of a cheeky wink. It was lobbed to me as I was disembarking the train at York in a distracted flurry, trying hard not to forget my trail of accoutrements that, over two and a half hours, I had liberally deposited above me (on the rack), beside me (on the … Continue reading Wink
How often have you heard it said, in hushed tones, through gritted teeth: ‘X is driving me round the bend’? It’s a common one, isn't it? Certain people press your buttons; their words, attitude, and general droning on drives you nuts, yet the person next to you is unaffected, it rolls off them like rain … Continue reading Round The Bend
“The world needs a wash and a week’s rest.” I love that line. It’s W.H. Auden, from one of his longer poems, Age of Anxiety. Don't you know just what he means? We all need time off work, time off being responsible, or productive. We need time off the exhaustion of maintaining a positive outlook, … Continue reading Age Of Anxiety
‘A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances.’ So decreed Robert Baden Powell when he drafted rule number eight of his manual, Scouting For Boys. It contains nine Scouting rules - ‘A Scout is thrifty’ being the ninth - and, amongst those seven rules ranking higher than what I’m calling the ‘cheerful rule’, are: loyalty, obedience, … Continue reading Reasons to be Cheerful
The Henry Girls is the name of a band comprised of three talented sisters from the village of Culdaff in County Donegal, one of whom I shared a house with in Belfast in the nineties. Curiously, they are not Henry girls at all, but McLaughlin girls. However, there is such a proliferation of McLaughlin’s in … Continue reading How Do You Know?
