My 82-year-old mother is thinking about getting alpacas. The neighbour has four of them and she has alpaca envy. She has allowed the...

October 15, 2015 I met a woman on the number 46 bus today. She had a bright blue streak in her hair that matched the blue of her shoes....

Overheard just now in Patisserie Valerie in Soho: ‘I need to write a book, in addition to all the other creative things I do. So many...

I woke in the middle of the night with the kitten sitting on my face, pressing her lady dot into my cheek. My cats don’t respect me.

August 17, 2015 My 82-year-old mother was crowing about the All Black’s recent rugby victory over Australia. ‘It’s a bloody shame the...

I think one of the things you absolutely need as a novelist is stamina. A book can take years to write and you’ve got to be able to stay...

July 14, 2015 I was just speaking to my 82-year-old mother in New Zealand. We’d been chatting for about half an hour when Mum went back...

My 82-year-old mother hasn’t lost the old magic. She’s just won top prize at a breast cancer fundraiser by bouncing the most ping pong...

May 12, 2015 Top travel tip from my 82-year-old mother (as told to my sister when she visited me in Japan 25 years ago): When using a...

May 11, 2015 Top travel trip from my 82-year-old mother who recently returned from a holiday at a swish resort in Fiji: Hand wash your...

May 1, 2015 My 82-year-old mother is in Fiji with her 83-year-old sister Joy, a holiday that had been delayed for two years due to poor...