Not me. Or, out of my comfort zone, yet again. Last weekend saw me well out of my comfort zone yet again. My new son-in-law invited us up to Manchester to watch him participate in a boxing match for charity. At first we really didn’t want to go, boxing not being anywhere near the top […]Read Post ›
She died exactly twelve years ago. My favourite aunt. My only aunt but still my favourite. Vibrant, sassy, kind and extremely self contained. She was the original who never complained, never explained. She was born Alicja Łomnicka, in Lwów, Poland in 1936. She became Alice Ruffell when she married. The marriage didn’t last – whatever […]Read Post ›
May 5th 1979, I am at my mother’s flat in Elm Park Gardens, getting myself ready for my wedding. The flat is teeming with people. My mother, my stepfather, a friend who is sewing me into my headdress – we thought it would be so easy – my father who is wearing two vests very […]Read Post ›
O Very enjoyable and fascinating story of espionage and derring-do. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been pure fiction. As it is a mostly true tale I could not stop thinking about all the gruesome death and destruction that occurred leading up to and around the operation. Of course, things could have […]Read Post ›
For all my family and friends. To write, or not to write. A Christmas reflection or newsletter, that is. This year has been so busy that I have sadly neglected many people – I’m sorry. I think of you all when I wake up in the small hours, and am consumed with guilt. So, I […]Read Post ›
Today would have been my parents’ seventieth wedding anniversary. I just found this rather lovely photo of them with their nearest and dearest. From left to right: My father’s eldest brother Gustaw. (36) He looks a lot older Not long after he emigrated to Australia. My aunt Alice. Here she is 17 and clinging to […]Read Post ›
I have always loved poetry and the sound of my own voice, so when I was asked to read a poem as part of a national poetry reading event I didn’t hesitate to agree. It was supposed to happen on my birthday in September, and I was tempted by the thought that there would be […]Read Post ›
Robert Edward Gordon; my godfather. Of course he wasn’t born Robert Edward Gordon 104 years ago today. He was born Zbigniew Szczepański, in Poznań, I believe, 6 days after Poland regained her independence after 123 years of partition. I imagine his mother must have been thrilled to give birth to her first and I believe […]Read Post ›
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 ›
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 ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 