An Author's Notebook

Sometimes you don't realise you need a break until you're sat on a beach in the sunshine, thinking thank goodness . This was me las...

There comes a time in a woman's life when she doubts herself. Wonders if she's made the right choices. Inevitably, she looks around...

I'm in a retrospective mood. December is a month for sorting through our photos and thinking about the year that has passed. It's n...

I'm feeling happy today. Naturally, I'm unable to be happy without taking time to analyse  why . This is the ideal state we all aspi...

Someone sent me a polite message via Twitter earlier in the summer. He introduced himself as Aidan Martin  and said he wanted to flag up a b...

Hubby and I nipped out for a walk first thing yesterday morning. The mist hung over the green hills of Turville while the sunlight was so pi...

It has been a confusing time. In some ways, I've found the last few weeks of relative freedom more challenging than full-on lockdown. ...

Throughout the coronavirus lockdown, there will be children stuck at home who have suffered emotional or physical abuse; kids who've wit...

The first time I ever sampled sourdough, I was at a business lunch with a contact in New York during the late 1990s. Mid-conversation, sitti...

We got our letter from Boris yesterday. Poor man - I'm sure he didn't imagine he'd end up in hospital himself when he was sittin...

Ever since I gave up full-time work to look after the kids, I've resisted - whisper it - becoming a housewife . The plan, back in 2003 w...

So it's Day One of social isolation. I feel like I can hear the Big Brother voiceover ringing in my ears, giving a running commentary o...

What strange times we live in. I walked into a petrol station yesterday to fill up my car and got terribly excited when I noticed multiple p...

It turned out to be quite an eventful holiday. At the beginning of half term, as I finished zipping up the suitcases  and disposing of the d...

As I watched my son lope off to catch his school bus this morning, I shed a tear. It was a discreet tear alone in the car - a quiet acknowle...

When the sun comes out at this time of year, I want to lie outside and soak up rays like a solar battery. This year, I got an early charge w...

This time last week I dropped off my 15-year old daughter at school for her French exchange trip. In the dark, lamp-lit morning (4:30am), se...

Christmas is an elaborate production. The sheer brilliance of it is that everyone collaborates in one way or another - whether that's bu...

A friend and I were discussing what I should buy her little girl for Christmas. We hit upon Lego. "Friends Lego, the pink stuff?" ...

Closing the door on the past It's finally happening. After three years of viewing properties and hoarding house particulars, we ar...