March 22, 2017 My mother is a whirlwind this morning. Lisa, her cleaner, is coming today and Mum likes to have the place tidy for her....

March 21, 2017 My 84-year-old mother on café tricksters: ‘They always bring you your tea or coffee first. You drink it and then have to...

March 19, 2017 I asked my 84-year-old mother what she would like me to make for dinner. Soup, perhaps? I have a great recipe for...

March 14, 2017 Today I drove my mother to the hospital for her six-weekly injection in the eye (for macular degeneration). The procedure...

March 12, 2017 It’s late summer here in New Zealand. Sweet corn season. My 83-year-old mother likes to shave her corn with a knife. ‘I...

11 March, 2017 My hotel in Singapore looked fine online, a 3-star place in a busy shopping area. The actual hotel was a lot more rustic...

November 9, 2016 I am standing in a field. It is my first vivid glimpse of the world, an impression of light flickering through towering...

November 2, 2016 My downstairs neighbours, a retired couple, keep asking me how many cats I have. They smile smugly when they ask and use...

October 28, 2016 First it was a shiny, shiny black widow spider with a bulbous back and long delicate legs. It was large, the size of a...

October 27, 2016 I was talking to an antiquarian bookseller last night about the value of books today (not good). We were at the...

October 26, 2016 I just spoke to my aunt’s friend. She told me that her father had been a signwriter and used to paint signs and banners...

October 25, 2016 I was carrying a large porcelain tureen in my hands. It was white with a delicate blue pattern, big enough to contain a...

October 21, 2016 I never understood school and was surprised when I managed to stumble through it. Take French, for example. Apparently,...

October 16, 2016 In my twenties, I lived at Yulara (the town near Ayers Rock) for nine months. I was there when the matinee jacket was...

September 21, 2016 Some people like fluffy towels. My mother likes them. My little brother likes them. When you walk through a department...

Coming back from Scotland last Friday, our Virgin East Coast train started losing time. We were 15 minutes late. Then we were 30 minutes...

About 20 years ago, I met a man on a train in Japan. He was going through the carriage with a trolley selling hot green tea. The trolley...

The good news, the telecommunications engineer turned up only an hour late and was very nice. He agreed it must be awful to be without...

I talked to my 83-year-old mother last night. It was Sunday morning in New Zealand and she was cooking bacon and eggs for my sister...

I had been in Tokyo but now I was in a coastal town in Algeria when I noticed my bag was missing. The guy with us said, ‘The hairy man...