The Reward is the Journey

It was a horrible shock that I did not react well to.  The last thing I have been thinking about recently is Mummy's personal belongings.  It has been a case of feeling our way through a hazy miasma we have had no choice but to navigate, requiring all hands to be very much on deck.  There has been little time for anything else.    So, to discover that someone had, in a moment of madness, decided to put a variety of small items on eBay without first running it either my sister or I, hit me hard.    Very hard.    My rational mind was confounded.  I could not comprehend how such a mistake could have been made.  Whilst we try and manage every last detail of my mother's ongoing care, this really was the straw that broken the proverbial camel's back.  And this particular breed of camel is pretty tough.    My reaction might not have made much sense to the man on the Clapham omnibus but, even n...

The 4 carriage 2227 to Salisbury was packed this evening (for no good reason). Her headscarf caught my eye on the platform. "She has been fighting the alien", thought I.     She valiantly fought for a seat but, on this occasion, lost the battle against her unworthy (and thoughtless/drunk commuter-type) opponents.   I felt vicarious victory as she gracefully removed their (ugly) bags and other miscellany, and sat on the luggage rack. She's adept at managing discomfort and fighting a longer game, I thought.   I hope she defeats the alien...    

It all happened very quickly.    One moment I was alright.    I had been to a spin class (something of a regular occurrence at the moment, as I try to maintain the part of my identity that desperately wants to call herself a cyclist, but accepts that I am distinctly fair weather and, given the recent conditions...)   The next, I was not.   I was in agony.    Tears welled up.  I thought I might collapse.  It was a short, sharp shock.   I hobbled to meet the friend I had been looking forward to seeing all day.  We shared delicious Moroccan food and an exquisite infusion of mint tea.  Whilst we sat I managed to forget what had happened.    And then, having paid our bill, and discussed our onward travel plans, I tried to get up.  Only to be reminded.   For 24 hours I could do nothing except surrender.  Every movement was affected.  Every movement required mindful ...

When Sky News called me on Monday afternoon, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I was the wrong side of London without a hope in hell of scooting across to the studio to share my opinion on the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Tragic because it could have been avoided.  And on that at least I am in total agreement with Russell Brand whose comment in the Guardian was, I thought, spot on.    Russell Brand: Philip Seymour Hoffman is another victim of extremely stupid drug laws   Addiction is never far from my mind.  My recovery depends on its proximity.  Having been living and breathing addiction and its consequences for as long as I can recall, the power of its grip never ceases to amaze me.  It attacks mercilessly, destroying lives without compunction and eroding relationships wherever it turns up.    It is an epidemic of almighty proportions, and in spite of awareness and education, shows no signs of a...

Time seems to have been escaping me recently.  It's not that I haven't had ideas over the last couple of weeks, but the conversion rate from ideas into blog posts seems has been somewhat compromised.  I have been frustrated and latterly confounded by issues of technology.  My laptop, after five and a half years of solid and unstinting service, died a sudden death which took me by surprise, and left me bereft, and all at sea.  I guess it's true:  sometimes you don't realise what you've got until you have it no longer.  Never again will I take for granted the relationship I have with my PC.  Thankfully, Jon was on hand.  Jon is my local geek.  He collected the Toshiba, and placed it in a rucksack specially designed to accommodate such beasts, and whisked it away to recover the data from my hard drive.  Which is exactly what he did.  50GB to be precise.  I have been reunited with all the skeletons from ...