Category Archives: Health

Failure

Yesterday I felt a failure. The feeling is unpleasant, heavy and upsetting. It brought tears and held me immobile and helpless for a while.  I don’t often feel a failure. I realise that I put significant energies into avoiding the feeling. I like … Continue reading

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Hacked off

After a few years of ignoring the flaking paint and a pervasive drop in temperature as one enters our kitchen, we have taken a deep breath, drawn ourselves up to our full height as responsible adults, and are “having the … Continue reading

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Impeccable

I love etymologies.  I love the ‘trailing clouds of glory’ words bring with them, discovering associations from their history which enrich them now. Because of my ‘O’ level, Latin echoes often come quite easily: crescent from crescere to grow, the … Continue reading

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First person singular

I think I remember this:  that when I was being taught English at school, my teacher asked us to look at a paragraph, and commended someone’s observation that there were a lot of sentences starting with ‘I’.  From this we … Continue reading

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Confidence

I have been thinking about confidence. Last night I met two friends for cocktails and a catchup. I find this a little daunting: I love having friends, but my emotions stutter when navigating the social route – the practical arrangements, conversational … Continue reading

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Vectors

We were at the wonderful How the Light Gets In (a Festival of Philosophy and Ideas) last month. I love this event, so I’m more than happy to put up with its minor discomforts. The campsite, I admit, is a … Continue reading

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Flight

I returned to the UK recently on an overnight flight.   For most of the journey we crossed an invisible globe which lay beneath a solid cloudbase.  Due to the time of year and our flight path,  the rich red hues … Continue reading

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Journey

I am in the middle of a Short Story Writing course and our topic this week is journeys.  I’m finding it impossible to write a story.  Journeys are so deeply symbolic, so essentially, entrenchedly metaphorical, any creative capacity I have … Continue reading

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Carpe Diem

There is an old Fry and Laurie sketch, Shakespear (sic) Masterclass in which the pedagogic lecturer, Fry, employs fresh-faced actor, Hugh, to work on a passage from Troilus and Cressida: Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,Wherein he … Continue reading

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Indigestion

When we are really listened to, we feel better.  We share our problems with a good friend and no decision is made, no action taken, yet our sense of emotional heaviness is so often lightened. 

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