As a seasoned world traveller, I’m always surprised how many things are the same across the globe. Everywhere, people live in houses, typically in families. They cook and eat, wash and clean. They move around in various modes of transport on roads and paths. They work and play, buy and sell, laugh and cry, have…
Category: Musings
Making Reasonable Progress
Does this remind you of your school report? Whilst you may have excelled in maths and flunked in history; in geography the teacher simply wrote “making reasonable progress”. Two months ago, I entered a Parkrun in Poland. We did not have a car as Wroclaw has a wonderful tram system. I had cleverly plotted a…
Seeking Solitude
I’m sat on my own in a pub in Robin Hoods Bay, a lovely picturesque little village wrapped around an impossibly steep hill; a crowd of tiny red-roofed cottages cascading down to the unsettled sea. I’m tucking into a tasty butter chicken curry in a room full of people. This is the only place open…
Running in the Dark
Last night I ran in the dark, through a forest. No street lights, no moonlight, just my feet navigating a rather soggy, uneven path. It was hard to see the way ahead, and there were potential hazards all around – fallen branches, puddles, pot holes, werewolves and vampires. Sometimes our imagination runs ahead of us…
Where is your cool pool ?
Where is your cool swimming pool? I love to swim alone in an outdoor pool. I was in one today, cool, fresh and all by myself. It is refreshing and liberating. The water gently enveloping and supporting me as I glide effortlessly through it. Just an easy breast stroke, my head above the surface, my…
Living with Covid (apart)
I have been literally living with Covid. She is at a safe distance at the other end of the house. We are living separate lives within these four walls. She is confined to the house, whereas I, at least, am allowed out for good behaviour. Paradoxically, my wife has tested positive and has no symptoms.…
Breaking into Bulgaria
—– 1 —– We sat there, not daring to speak. The big man in uniform gave nothing away in his expression or demeanour. He carefully sifted through the documents and papers. Our hearts were racing, but time seemed to stand still. My wife in the back seat was strangely silent. All I could hear was…
Crashing through walls . . . and connecting
My experience in cardiac ward 28 described how I found brief but very meaningful connection with my fellow inmates. An eye-opening experience, which left me with some questions. What conditions encouraged this? What did I have to do to make it happen? And how can I learn from this experience about connecting in the world of…
Cardiac Ward 28 – Camaraderie and 3am Lunacy
Sometimes we are thrust together with people through no choice of our own, or of theirs. Maybe in a queue, a lift, a waiting room, at a concert or on a plane. Those were the days. Our English default is to remain quiet and to keep our distance – physically and emotionally. To be private,…
Pipe Cleaning My Heart
When I was a boy, my grandad smoked a pipe. To clean it he used a pipe cleaner; around six inches of flexible wire encased in fluffy cotton. My sister and I would make intricate models out of them. Similar, larger pipe cleaners are used to clean sinks and drains. Whatever the size, pipe cleaners…
Unwrapping The World 