This week I read a report in the newspaper about how farmers who have lost their entire crop due to flood are ineligible for a government hardship fund because their farms are too far from a major river. It’s a pity that the politicians didn’t think to inform the rivers when they came up with the … [Read more...] about ‘Man Up’ and why emotion can never be wrong.
Loss
A Death In The Garden
Despite my internal protestations and denial, as the rest of the garden springs into life, I’ve been forced to face reality. The honeysuckle is dead. I don't know why it has died, whether it has anything to do with my brutal cutting back of the wayward jasmine that grows alongside. Perhaps it … [Read more...] about A Death In The Garden
Sober Relationships
The Sunday I watched my father zipped into a body bag and removed from the living room didn't seem an obvious point at which there would be a change in the relationship I'd witnessed him have with my mother. That morning, he would have been listening to Brahms or Beethoven, maybe Grieg and … [Read more...] about Sober Relationships
Happy Families
My sister texts me with the news that our brother has returned from ten days in Yorkshire to find that his water tank has been leaking and made the house uninhabitable. The insurance company say it will be a year before he is back home. The last time I saw my brother was when I bumped into him in … [Read more...] about Happy Families
How To Make Decisions
My daughter, returning to university in a few weeks, is trying to choose a new duvet and makes the mistake of asking for my advice. Our neurodivergence makes decisions more difficult and creates anxiety around change, so deciding on new bedding might appear straightforward but instead, we tie one … [Read more...] about How To Make Decisions