Autobiography
It’s immoral, dear.
This was Mother Mary Austen’s catchphrase. Oh, how we laughed at her. One of the most ancient of nuns in my convent school, she was big, ungainly and ripe for teasing at all times. Her innocence was immense. She had entered the convent before the first world war, and once admitted to us she had […]Read Post ›
Walter de la Mare
I just found this book on my shelf after many years and was enchanted all over again by the sweetness of the cover. The illustrator is Margery Gill. The back cover is no less delightful. I received this book for Christmas when I was ten. I remember choosing it with the woman who gave it […]Read Post ›
The Power of the Poetry of the Old Testament
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos6:1a, 4-7 Those who sprawl and those who bawl will be exiled The almighty Lord says this: “Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zion and to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria. Lying on ivory beds and sprawling on their divans, they […]Read Post ›
Desperate Measures – Putin Escalates The War (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #196)
On Monday and Tuesday of this past week, the Kremlin announced a series of escalatory measures in Russia’s war with Ukraine. These included … Desperate Measures – Putin Escalates The War (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #196)
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Soixante -neuf. I see you internally giggle. But don’t. Yesterday was my sixty-ninth birthday. The beginning of my seventieth year. My three score and ten is almost up. This was brought home to me recently when I opened an official looking envelope which contained the message that my life insurance payments would soon cease as […]Read Post ›
September 11
A date for reflections of all kinds. For a lot of people it will be memories of nine eleven. Here in England that memory is I suppose slightly eclipsed by the death of Queen Elizabeth and the excitement of having a King Or a man queen as I read somewhere. Yet for me the memories […]Read Post ›
September
Thirty years ago my stepfather died very suddenly. He was sixty one. 14 years later my mother followed him. In this photo they are in front of Sheffield City Hall just after my graduation in 1976. He is forty five. My mother is 47. He is the slimmest he’s ever been. That day was one […]Read Post ›
Mallorca 3
Finally the sofa came. I am sitting on it now. I am trying to use the laptop so I can write more easily than on my phone. But I can’t connect to the internet. I don’t know why. Jacek is of course fast asleep, and I haven’t the heart, or the courage, to wake him. […]Read Post ›
Mallorca. Again.
Our plane was delayed. We had sat in it for an hour before it moved off. Then it did. Fast. Up and down. Too much turbulence for me. We were in business class. I was looking forward to my delicious meal. Instead we got something they called afternoon tea. But no tea. Little stale sandwiches. […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 