It is one of those strange things in life, a wish which seems absolutely weird and, to some, a little arrogant but is said and thought only with the best intentions: welcome to a world outside the box. I don’t believe I am twisting your words in any way, or that I have taken them…

An admission to begin with: I laughed at your interest in the state of Donald Trump’s hairline having, sad to say, more than enough opportunity to observe it over the last few weeks and because, believe it or not, last week an American newspaper went out of its way to investigate and explain how his…

It is a rarity, in our modern, technology-filled world, to find someone who openly admits to being interested in history, and even more uncommon to discover that this someone goes a stage further, and breaks the interest down into both Ancient and Modern history. Society is no longer interested in such things: society is interested…

There is a phrase in German, often used when a general discussion awaits, or when someone just wants to ramble on about anything in conversation, and it can be translated as talking about God and the World which, I think you’ll agree, seems to cover practically anything anyone could possibly want to talk about rather…

I was almost inclined to begin my letter ‘Dear open-minded, sexually confused vegetarian’ and continue through a long letter about all manner of things before signing off as an ‘open-minded, non-sexually confused vegetarian’ which might have amused some, but would not necessarily be appropriate without a good deal of explanation. The explanation would have had…

One of the hardest things to come to terms with is when someone simply disappears without a word of explanation, and it makes little difference if this person is someone we personally know, or merely someone we have met in a virtual sense but never personally. Every relationship we build up brings a certain intimacy,…

I was intrigued by one of the things you originally wrote as a form of introduction; it has stuck in my mind ever since and brought many images and reflections of past times to the fore during the last few weeks. You wrote: I am someone who values time, therefore I will not take it…

I was quite moved to read your opening words, as you introduced yourself to the assembled masses and admitted that, despite your advanced years, you have seen nothing of our world, that you have always lived in the same town, with the same surroundings, the same neighbours, the same friends, classmates and acquaintances. It brought…

I was intrigued by the idea, which you propose, of having a penfriend from every single country in the world and wondered how anyone would be able to achieve this. You know, of course, that there are either one hundred and ninety-five or ninety-six countries recognised at present – the difference being between whether Taiwan…