My daughter is feeding ice cream to her grandmother, now too weak to feed herself. "It's hard to see the people who looked after us not able to look after themselves," I say. She agrees, but she's happy to do it. It reminds me of having to help my father get out of the bath or go to the … [Read more...] about Taking Care Of Everything
Gratitude
When It’s Time To Look At The Past
For the thirteen years since the death of my mother a huge collection of 35mm photographic slides have been sitting in the garage on a shelf, waiting for me. Having cleared out her house after she died, a task which took me and my two siblings the best part of a year, I couldn't face looking at … [Read more...] about When It’s Time To Look At The Past
Dealing With The Trauma Of A Trauma
Last weekend my son sustained head trauma. Someone punched him so hard it broke his mastoid and, as he fell he hit and cut his head. For two days there was blood coming from his ear, he couldn't keep a glass of water down, and he was so dizzy he couldn't get himself off the bed until he was so … [Read more...] about Dealing With The Trauma Of A Trauma
Does It Matter Whether Altruism Really Exists?
On a balmy late spring evening we're eating outside huddled next to the wafts of jasmine bloom providing a flourish to the end of the day. My daughter has spent all day indoors revising for exams. But instead of taking the nervous walk into cavernous halls on campus, she'll be sitting in her … [Read more...] about Does It Matter Whether Altruism Really Exists?
How To Hold A Chord
I was on a workshop once in the beautiful highlands of Scotland when Boo Hewerdine said that the best piece of songwriting advice he was ever given was by a guy in Nashville who had told him, "The longer you hold a chord, the bigger it sounds". I've told numerous people since the beginning of … [Read more...] about How To Hold A Chord