Today the traditional gift for mothers is one of flowers, perhaps supplemented with a box of chocolates or a scented candle. However, the one present many mums will value above all else - especially this weekend when the clock has left us rubbing our weary eyes – is one that cannot be tied with a … Continue reading The Greatest Gift
Fifteen years ago, when International Women’s Day had a lower profile than it has now, I attended a lunch where Anita Roddick of The Body Shop was guest speaker. I remember her as being dynamic and funny; she delivered extemporaneous stories, talked without a script, and effortlessly held the attention of her audience. It was … Continue reading Winning Women
Sheer, opaque, 10 denier, ribbed, woolly, black, tan, fishnet, and every colour of the rainbow; I like a nice pair of tights and I have scores of them, all tangled in a bag at the back of my wardrobe like eels in a bucket. Nor do I shy away from a patterned tight. I recently … Continue reading Legs Eleven
Occasionally, I see angry, defiant, prickly attitudes masquerading as a form of feminism; rebelliousness without much consideration, that might just be an excuse for: ‘every man and woman for his or her self’. The feminism of, ‘Why should I make you a cup of tea, you, you…. man! Make it yourself.’ Somewhere within it, there is righteous … Continue reading Still A Woman
The Bayeux Tapestry is coming to the British Museum in 2020 on loan from the French. It might seem to be too early to be talking about it, but two years is a blink of the eye when you consider that it hasn't left France for 950 years. The museum in Bayeux, Northern France, where … Continue reading May I Borrow It?
‘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
My hair is too long. It’s ridiculous. I can nearly sit on it. It hasn’t been near a pair of scissors in ten months and it needs to be chopped. Nothing dramatic, but I want to be able to look at the floor and see plenty of it down there - two inch lengths. A. … Continue reading Cut!
Today is the twelfth day of Christmas, the end of the season, the Epiphany, marking the arrival of the three Kings to the birth of Jesus. In Ireland, this day is known as ‘Little Christmas’ - also called Nollaig na mBan, which translates as Women’s Christmas. It used to be quite widely celebrated and apparently … Continue reading The Dead
Sometimes, when I write, the words I choose and the connections I make can jump about in unexpected directions; by which I mean, unexpected for me. Lately I have been playing a game, trying to use each letter of the alphabet in the first letter of each blog title. I know it is a daft … Continue reading Zeal
The roads around where I live are being resurfaced. It was crying out to be done. One of the first things I noticed about Edinburgh was its pitted roads; full of bumps and holes, making driving an experience of bone-shaking unevenness. I stopped to have a chat with the workmen who were laying the tarmac, … Continue reading Resurfacing
