This time last year I had started writing my COVID-19 DIARIES - Life Under the Cloud. Now, after a surreal twelve months, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 cloud. A glimmer of hope; our yellow brick road to recovery. Exciting times ahead, but it will be a gradual process, and some things can never quite be the same again.
I'm not sure when your dotage is supposed officially supposed to start, but I fear the tell-tale signs have been around for a while now. Just small things.
Turning forty, Lisa still bears the scars of her dysfunctional childhood. Her narcissist mother, Elizabeth, is responsible for her insecurities and Lisa needs to break the negative emotional hold Elizabeth has over her. Harnessing her journalistic skills, Lisa investigates her mother's past and is shocked by what she uncovers.
Shocking and appalling! The British Government think it is okay to palm NHS staff with a 1% pay rise! Please sign the petition to say you agree. I cannot begin to imagine what NHS staff have been through during the last 12 months. All the sacrifices they made in their own lives to save the... Continue Reading →
Yesterday at dawn, I was woken by my cat purring in my ear. There are worst ways of being woken up. Throwing back the curtains, I was greeted by a spectacular sunrise bursting across the horizon and the inspirational light, together with the birdsong, quite took my breath away. A vast, glowing sphere of hot... Continue Reading →
My fascination for archaeology kicked in when I was five, after I found a fossilised gastropod in our Gloucestershire garden. Had I not mucked around during my school years, I can only dream about what my life might have been like as a female Indiana Jones. Fast forward to 1981, when I moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands, UK, and found myself surrounded by archaeological treasures. From dolmens to menhirs, and La Cotte de St Brelade, which is now viewed as one of the most important Ice Age sites in Europe.
Following the joyful inauguration of the 46th U.S. President, Joe Biden, hundreds and thousands of overlayed images of Bernie Sanders started appearing everywhere, ridiculing the mittens he was wearing at the ceremony. It touched a nerve with me. For goodness sake, he is seventy-nine, it was 4C and blowing a howling bloody gale, but I'm guessing his hands were warmer than anybody else's. So, to whoever started circulating these memes, back off! You're not so funny!
Dear Diary, as 2020 was so goddam bleak, I intend to record only positive thoughts and affirmations this year. Well, hello, 2021! I took down the tree and the Christmas decorations today because now that you're here, there no point in hanging around, I want to get on with it. You've been a long time coming. It's been the longest 365 days of my life and, as I'm sure you've heard, your predecessor was a nightmare.
I dare to dream about spending time with the people I care about, without being 2 meters apart. I dare to dream about going out for a meal, or to the theatre - how I've missed the smell of the greasepaint - and listening to Little Black Dress cook up a storm in the Blue Note Bar with other live music lovers. I dare to dream about a change of scene - I used to write poetry, just as well I gave it up. I dare to dream about soaking up the sunshine somewhere with the gentle lapping of the sea in my ears, free to inhale the exhilarating, briny COVID-19-free air. Joy.
When writing fiction, creating characters has always been the fun part for me. Getting inside each character's head and shaping them into credible human beings for others to enjoy, love or hate.
Bah humbug! I'm just not feeling it. Does anybody else feel the same? I thought getting our tree and decorating it while drinking a few glasses of Mulled wine and listening to Michael Bublé's Christmas full deluxe special edition, might do the trick. Well, it did, sort of. SIX REASONS WHY I'M STRUGGLING TO FIND ANY CHRISTMAS... Continue Reading →
I was delighted to be a contributor for Jersey Life's December 2020/January 2021 edition. My brief was to write an article on the benefits of writing for mental health and general well-being, especially in light of COVID-19 and the effects of Lockdown, and I came up with Writing to Heal. It is a very personal account of... Continue Reading →
I have never been so emotionally involved in an American Presidential Election in my life but, since last Tuesday, I have been glued, as America's future teetered on a knife-edge, and I'm not even American. Thousands of miles away from America, the land of the free, we heard the news we were hoping for. We cried, imbibed and danced to Kool & The Gang's Celebration on our patio in the middle of our night waving sparklers in the air. The feeling of joy, as well as relief for a bunch of Brits thousands of miles away, was very real.
The thought of writing a memoir had never crossed my mind. I've listened intently as members of my writers' group read from their life writings. One member decided to defy convention and sail around the world with her children. Another lived in India for years to learn the practice of Ayurveda, a form of traditional Indian medicine. Both amazing life experiences. But, consciously thinking about writing about my life experiences might not have occurred to me but, the fact was, I'd been doing it for years.
My printer ink reservoir of patience and calm has run dry. I am exhausted and stressed - not a good place to be. I am in mourning for my late lamented printer.
Let's face it, 2020 has been a shit year, so far, but one good thing that has come out of it for me, is that it has highlighted the things that are really important.
When It's time for a change, you instinctively know the time is right. Lockdown concentrated our minds, as dedicated health workers around the world became frontline soldiers in the war against COVID-19, while our lives ground to a halt. I'm not sure how we can ever repay them for their sacrifice.
Wear a sodding mask! It's not all about you! If you don't want to wear a mask to protect yourself, then do it for others who are less robust than you. There are people out there fighting pre-existing conditions whose lives are already a struggle. The last thing they want is to contract COVID-19. If they do, the probability is that they won't survive it. Do you really want that on your conscious? Is that really YOUR CHOICE? So, get over it! Wear a sodding mask!
I never thought I would feel the love for lemon sherbet popcorn, but stranger things have happened when you are stranded at an airport.
