As a child I could never understand the need or reason for punishments meted out by adults: they seemed to be without reason and often for misdemeanours which were so minor, so trivial in all their aspects, that any normal person, in my mind, would have overlooked them. But these were adults, I reasoned, and…

There are some things in life which are almost impossible to explain, they have to do with personal knowledge, with life experiences and with emotions, what we have lived converted, over time, into what we are. What we learn in our youth is what we need to have a fulfilling life as we grow older,…

I have been working on the idea of where we gain our inspiration from for quite some time, and come to no clear answer because, I suspect, there is no clear answer. If I were to go out and seek inspiration, follow a specific path or go to a museum exclusively to allow myself to…

Your comment on the dangers of smart phones struck a chord with me straight away, partially because I know that this is exactly what happens, partially because I have (almost) seen the effects. I do have one of these things, of necessity more than anything else since it is impossible to get a real cell…

I most certainly didn’t want to intimidate anyone with my letter – and I must admit, I’ve never really thought of my letters as being intimidating although, perhaps for some, they may seem to be a little too much, in-depth or writing style, for some – although I think I can understand, from the layout,…

It seems almost appropriate that today is World Letter Writing Day, even though this is a fairly new concept and has to vie with every other ‘world something day’ that is imaginable – from wear red right through to nachos – although, as with so many other things in life, such as Mother’s Day, I…

I was immediately drawn to the short article you enclosed with your letter from Mary Jane’s Farm since it seems, despite its brevity and the lack of letter writing, to speak to many. I was honestly surprised that the author took texting as being of higher value than writing letters, but perhaps that is her…

Thinking back over several years of letter writing, as this is hardly a new project or hobby for me, I cannot recall too many times when someone has approached me through a letter, without me having been in touch with them before. Several times – twice this year – I have been asked for my…

Like you, I have come across, and lived, with many people of different Couleur in my life, both in Europe and elsewhere around the world. I cannot claim that they included murderers, torturers or kidnappers amongst their number, but there was certainly a very mixed collection of people from a wide variety of nations. My…

The internet is, indeed, a wonderful invention and I am sure I agree with you: you can find anything. Well, almost anything, there are still a few world secrets left out there which haven’t made it as far as our virtual world, nor as far as those who sell the internet as a product would…