Cleanliness is next to godliness. I am usually clean, I think. Am I godly? I don’t know. But this morning I had difficulty being either. I woke up this morning almost unable to get up because of the pain in my knee. I had spent most of the night in agony, imagining the consequences of […]Read Post ›
My mother was married on November 29th, 1952. I was born just over 40 weeks later. A honeymoon baby. I think it was a difficult time for the whole family. My father was still a student – his education had been shatteringly disrupted by his forced exile to the Soviet Union and then by several […]Read Post ›
As you know I don’t like stairs. I don’t like going uphill. I huff and I puff but somehow I don’t fall down. Just as well as today we were going to go to the top of Sintra Mountain to see the old castle, but we left it too late (we’d booked lunch yesterday, but […]Read Post ›
Actually it’s stopped now but yesterday was a shocker. Wind, rain with one or two very short bursts of a clear sky when we made a dash for it to get to a restaurant for something to eat. In the morning though we got an uber to get to the palace in the centre of […]Read Post ›
I haven’t written anything for a long time. No time. Busy busy busy. But finally the time came to reset, recharge, rejuvenate. The reason? My husband’s birthday. Last year we went to Lisbon and had a fantastic time. This year we decided to go somewhere new. Not far from Lisbon in fact but very, very […]Read Post ›
It’s that time of year, when I realise that I still have some of last year’s written but not sent Christmas cards in a box somewhere, this year’s unwritten ones in a box in my bag, no stamps, no time, posting deadlines past, the Christmas tree is up but not quite finished, the food shopping […]Read Post ›
One of my readers commented recently on a throwaway remark of mine- fear of war- and I began to think about it more deeply. And this fear is indeed always at the back of my mind, as is my horror of being in prison. So I began to try and think why these two things are […]Read Post ›
Imagine the woman who can fold herself into a suitcase. Lithe, long of limb, lissom, luxurious hair, lovely large eyes. You know the type. Every day when I get dressed I have this vision before me. I grunt as I try to regain my balance as I put on my underwear. I groan as I fumble […]Read Post ›
We came back from Malaga about four weeks ago. Six days of bliss, mainly because we had six unadulterated days of our four month old grandson. Unfortunately I can’t share any pictures of him, but suffice it to say that if I did, the internet would be awash the most gorgeous baby in the world. […]Read Post ›
I found this yesterday. It brought back memories of my cousin Gustaw who died a few weeks ago in Poland. I met him for the first time when I was eleven, in 1965, in Częstochowa, Poland. My father had taken me by car and generally the trip was quite gruelling for me, partly because everyone […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 