Sometimes your worst fears come true. They can be small fears, like being landed with a parking ticket in the heart of the countryside on a Sunday afternoon when all you’ve done is to park up on a wide verge so as to take a walk across the moors. Or they can be large fears, … Continue reading Sometimes
Only the good die young; it’s an idea that has been around forever, or since about 445 BC, when dying young must have been a lot more common than it is today. The origins of the saying go way back to a proverb by Herodotus, who, all those millennia ago, wrote: ‘Whom the Gods love … Continue reading Where Have All The Good People Gone?
If I ruled the world I would forbid all men (all of them) from wearing spray on jeans. If I ruled the world, I would allow Theresa May to dance as much as she wanted, but I’d put a blanket ban on anyone filming her. If I ruled the world I would insist on cafés serving … Continue reading If I Ruled The World
I used to work with J. She sat adjacent to door of the CEO’s office and, in eight years of working there, he persistently got her name wrong. He would almost get it right, but not quite – Ann instead of Anna, that sort of thing. It wasn’t deliberate, and J. knew it; she’d long … Continue reading Be Nice
What do you do when awful things happen in the world and you want to make a change but you feel utterly powerless? Perhaps you believe anything you might try wouldn’t make any difference anyway? Do you have a quiet moment in the bathroom and cry? Do you write a letter? Share a clip on … Continue reading Do Something
Edinburgh is filled with beautiful buildings, some unquestionably so: Edinburgh Castle, the Usher Hall, Holyrood Palace. Some are more controversial, bound to divide opinion: the Parliament Building, or the modern glass-fronted flats at the Quartermile on the edge of The Meadows, new housing mixed in through the old Royal Infirmary. However, there are two edifices … Continue reading Imposing
‘Faint heart never won fair lady.’ Remember the old-fashioned saying? Literally or figuratively, it expounds that timidity will prevent you from achieving your objective, be it throwing yourself with gusto at a job interview or with similar gusto at the man or lady of your dreams. It goes hand in hand with its twin saying, … Continue reading Searchlights
Views and opinions: we should have plenty of them, formed from our own thoughts, musings and observations. Best not - as Lord Haig witheringly said of one poor fellow - to be, “like a cushion, bearing the impression of the last person who sat on you.” Which gets me thinking about Lord Haig, the celebrated … Continue reading Facts Are Sacred
We are all pieces of a jigsaw and without each other there is no full picture, no complete life, just fragments. I was reminded of this when I was talking to R. on the phone a few weeks back and we were sharing stories about H. who had just died. We each talked about how … Continue reading Jigsaw
What are the most difficult things in life? Solving quadratic equations? Learning to play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2, finger-perfect? Achieving a feat of physical endurance, like my Irish hero, Tom Crean, who trekked to the South Pole in 1911 with Captain Scott? Anything that takes years of dedication and practice must surely be high … Continue reading Wrong
My Edinburgh Press 