I heard an expression the other day that stopped me in my tracks. It had the ring of a famous saying, although that turned out not to be the case. But more importantly, it had some real profundity. It said, simply, “Life ends in the middle of a sentence.” Getting…
Time is a very strange phenomenon. For most of our lives, we don’t have enough. We struggle with children and jobs and housework and think “If only I had more time, I would get on with…” whatever it is we hope to do. Even in our older years, days seem…
In these new and – as everyone says – ‘unprecedented’ times, we are all stuck indoors, with a lot of time on our hands. I don’t know about you, but I am watching a lot more television than usual. This has made me reminisce about all the good programmes I have…
Do you feel that you spend too much time on life’s trivia? You know the sort of thing – dealing with gas or electricity bills, coping with computer or broadband problems or just keeping the household running okay. A certain amount of time is acceptable, but sometimes there is a…
People who go everywhere by car may have many complaints – traffic, the price of petrol (gas), or finding a parking space. But at least they can expect to travel in comfort. Many of us, however, are dependent on buses, trains, and subways (known as the ‘underground’ or ‘tube’ in…
Do you remember when you thought your parents were so out of date, it was almost embarrassing? They didn’t know anything about the music you listened to. And all sorts of words that seemed really sophisticated to you were unknown to them. Well, the world turns, as we know, and…
This article was first written before the coronavirus struck the world. It has even more cogency now. Death and dying do not make for a jolly subject of any conversation, but it is part of life. And none of us is getting any younger. Is death or dying something you…
Usually, when anyone writes about the joys of bed, they are thinking of one of two things: the pleasures of a good night’s sleep or, alternatively, of sex. I am a great believer in both, but I am not writing about either here. No, bed means more than either of…
I heard a simple quote years ago, but back then didn’t understand the meaning. I had to look it up to check. In fact, I remembered it wrong. I thought it was Groucho Marx who said “The best reason to have children is in order to have grandchildren.” But nope,…
Nearly thirty years ago, when HIV/AIDS was rampant, I became close friends with a young man diagnosed with the disease. He was very active in the AIDS world and was organising an international conference of people with HIV and AIDS, to be held in London. These were the dark days…
