Aug 5Breaking Up Is Hard To Do(How It Feels To Leave Your Job) “Are you taking early retirement?” she asked. I almost wept. It was Saturday. I was preparing for Sunday. By now, most people were wondering how many times I was going to leave my job. I had talked about it for so long. I…Leaving A Job5 min read
Jul 20Mum’s Holiday Handbag(The Realities of Holidays With Children) “Can I put this in your bag?”. It’s nice to be asked, but it’s rare. “Where’s the water?” I gasp desperately, at the top of a steep hill. I’ve walked for miles and still there is no sign of the Alhambra anywhere behind the…Teenagers5 min read
Jul 15A Little Story About Love - Google Translate“Can anyone speak Spanish?”. It was a request from Pamela, the cabin manager to two hundred people via the tannoy. There were currently two engineers and two pilots squashed into the cockpit. We’d taxied to the runway, already one hour behind schedule, then quickly returned to the stand. There was…Love In Action5 min read
Jun 26My First (Presbyterian Church in Ireland) General AssemblyI was running late. My husband was 963 miles away. I had navigated three school drop-offs, supported some last-minute GCSE Physics preparation, unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher, unblocked the toilet, walked the dog, stopped for diesel, collected a parcel. I wondered would there be others similarly behind schedule due to…Church6 min read
Jun 22Do You Miss Work? (A Year of Questions About Stopping Working)Since I stopped ‘working’ almost 525,600 minutes ago, I have been asked a lot of questions. There is considerable curiosity about my decision to give up my ‘professional’ status, abandon a ‘career’ in my forties and step out into the unknown. I would love to believe that people are tremendously…Career Change5 min read
Jun 10The Day I Went ViralIt was a split-second decision. I’d been aimlessly scrolling through my camera roll on a Thursday evening, just before heading off to bed. It had been languishing there for at least a week in-between a shot of my wisteria and one of a particularly delicious cheese and mushroom omelette. …Viral5 min read
Jun 9I’m DelightedA little poem… I’m delighted,” I say, “to meet so-and-so, to be part of this and that, to get to be here or there or somewhere or anywhere”. I’m delighted to be invited, included, present at, to announce … I’m not the only one. We’re united, in it together. Everyone…Poetry1 min read
May 27I’d Rather Be A Maverick (What I Learned From Top Gun: Maverick)There was a moment, more than half-way through the film, when I glanced sideways at my husband and wondered (1) whether he was ever going to get to the bottom of the infinite tub of popcorn he’d been endlessly chomping and (2) why despite only being a boy in short…Nostalgia5 min read
May 20Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Making The Decision To Leave Your Job)“Where have you been?” the man with the glasses asked me. “All over the place,“ I thought, “On a journey of self-discovery”, “In the land of confusion”, “To hell and back”, “Searching for myself”. He looked at me, I looked at him. It was almost midnight. There was a queue…Leaving A Job6 min read
May 11A Little Story About Love - 14: Calling 999Yesterday, I called 999. It’s only the second time, I’ve said those words, “ambulance, please”. I was propelled back to the last time, to a cardiac arrest twenty-five years ago. It was history repeating itself. …Love In Action2 min read