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….

If we didn’t have a past, we would have no memories and nothing to shape our future on; we would be hollow shells with nothing to talk about, with nothing to share with other people; we would have nothing from which we can learn and no salacious and intimate details with which we, when we…

I’m not sure whether we have slid calmly into the new year, or been dragged into it, although for me it was a quiet and sedate affair, fireworks across the town at midnight, the cat on my lap tearing up my jeans with its claws, and a glass of red wine near at hand. I…

The wonderful thing about letter writing is that no one knows you have an accent. This highly unoriginal saying is taken from an equally unoriginal one: in the internet no one knows you’re a dog, and merely tells us that with the internet, as with letter writing, we can be whoever we wish to be,…

One of the failings of the human beast is not to recognise and accept their own limitations, not just with respect to strength and speed which are easy enough to assess and measure against other people, but in regard to intellectual abilities. Every single person has their upper limit, but very few accept this as…

One of my greatest pleasures in life, apart from writing letters and travelling, is reading. There is rarely a time, day or night, that I do not have a book in my hands and, while I might not be able to read at any point in time, it is always there for those free moments…

I wonder where we would all be without second chances, whether the world would grind to a halt, or whether those who really are more attuned to life and all it needs would simply disappear from the surface of the Earth, finding no more use for their talents, because second chances are unacceptable. There is…

I didn’t overplay Christmas this year, although that is probably true of the last few years too, and one of the great advantages of living alone and having already done most of it. Christmas this last year was a time of relaxation for me, and I didn’t even need to hide away and avoid invitations,…