The migraine had started the day before the flight. Anxiety, fear, another strange city, another few days of second...
Humanity
Reinforcing the power of humanity
“And what skill will you be teaching?” “Guitar,” came the reply. “Great!” My enthusiasm was somewhat fake. In my...
Remembering my Grandparents.
Grandparents. I used to worry I would be sacked over mine. For many years I had seven of them, and was terrified some...
Remembering what we believe in
"Assumptions!" declared a voice. I looked up to find a tall man in a cassock and dog collar, clutching a bible to his breast. “It’s all about assumptions,” he repeated, looking triumphant. Assumptions, I wondered. Was that a book of the bible I had somehow missed in...
Revolutionary: Spaces for Listening
What do you gift yourself when you have everything you can buy and are unable to have what you really want, for your birthday? I was supposed to be working abroad, in my favourite country with my favourite colleagues and when that was cancelled due to Covid, my team...
Remembering that kindness works both ways
When my husband was called up urgently in the evening by a consultant haematologist to come into the acute assessment unit at the local hospital, on the same day as he had had a routine blood test at the GP practice, this was never going to be ‘normal’. My husband...
Recognising the smoke screens that help us get closer
I met ‘Aunt Es’ when I was 18. I had heard all about her from my Dad. She had introduced him to the Lake District and to Swallows and Amazons, which he read to me the long, hot summer of 1976 when I broke my arm, aged 8. My dad adored his ‘Aunt Es’ who was not his...
Recalculating the impact of change
A phenomenon. Live Aid. 1985. Hundreds of music industry people coming together, free of charge, to produce the world’s biggest cross continent concert to help others less fortunate than themselves. Where were you for Live Aid? This was a recent question on one of my...
Repackaging our greatest skills – for each other.
For the thirteenth year running I have been involved in an induction programme for surgical trainees starting their careers, post foundation training. As I scanned the computer screen (yes, it happened virtually this year as the last thing we wanted was to take...
Remembering Dolly and the nurture of nature.
It is Autumn now and I still really miss her. Every morning, that leap of joy as I went downstairs to see if she was still with us, and in the warm, soft evenings, talking gently under the tree, her eyes following me, knowingly, wise beyond her years. She...
Really, really want
In the words of the 1990s pop song, what do we want? What do we really, really want? From life? From work? From each other? Many people have asked this question over the centuries and most of the time the answers are a variation on the same theme. As human...
Realigning our priorities
Five people, strangers, met one sunny Friday in early September. They had not met previously, but had come together with one sole purpose in mind – to create. Standing around in an airy workshop, stuffed to the rafters with material, tools, objects and knick knacks,...