I’ve always been fascinated by the opinions people hold of themselves, much more than those they have of other people who they might or might not know which, though often honest and forthright when brought out, tend to be very limited according to what a person has personally seen of that other man or woman,…

If there is one thing that I have discovered in my many years of life on this small rock, hurtling through space, it is that there is no one who is not interesting, but hundreds, if not thousands of people who believe that their lives are boring, that they have nothing to say, that other…

Zarathustra seems to be following my every move of late, not so much lurking in the background and sending strange thoughts into my mind on spirituality, belief, dogma and the Enlightenment, but more springing out where I least expect him and stunning me with the source of his words. But even this is not quite…

I would go a few steps further than the old ‘don’t believe everything you read’ and suggest that people should only truly trust that which can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, and remain sceptical of everything else, not so much to remove any level of trust people might have, but to inspire…

When I think about how hard it is to live with someone you love and cherish, I find it easier to envision the problems which can arise when you are forced to spend time, without little hope of reprieve, with someone who is not so high on your wish list. I used to think it…

The decision on who to write to is not always an easy one: there are tens of thousands of advertisements in the internet which press themselves upon those willing to put pen to paper, or fingers to screens, vying for attention, and some of them are attractive, some enticing, some scary. This, I hasten to…

What goes through anyone’s mind when they decide to keep – or hoard – anything? I suppose, if you’re going to think about personal matters, then love letters are the prime targets for a collector, not just because of the intimacy that is within, but also because they bring back memories of a better time,…

It is almost impossible, in our modern world, to live without some form of news input, without knowing what is going on in the world, or even in the next State, the next town or village. Once upon a time we would be relieved from our ignorance by word of mouth, even if the news…

I am always intrigued by those who suggest that we, as outsiders, might want to find out who they are, that we, as outsiders, have the ability to delve into the mind and personality, the most intimate corners of a person, and discover the real being behind some form of facade, some wall which has…

One of the delights of winter, for some people, is not so much the fact that it is cold and there is the chance of snow, but that they have a decent excuse for lighting up their fires at home, and spending the evening in front of a log fire, or crowded around a stove….