Last Friday, I got up in the dark at 4.30 as I usually do. I wasn’t happy. I don’t like getting up in the dark. But as I rooted around for socks (I know my socks by touch) I felt the socks I most love: cashmere, grey with blue toes and heels and soft as …
I did my back in this week. On Monday I went for a run and I was fine. On Tuesday I went climbing with my son Silas and I was fine. And then, suddenly, I wasn’t. I don’t know exactly what I did, but when I sat down I found I couldn’t stand up. Getting …
We watch movies in our house, and they enter our language. Crying, for example, is known as ‘Going a bit Sound of Music’ after my habit of weeping uncontrollably whenever Captain Von Trapp sings Edelweiss. The key Christmas movie, though, is It’s A Wonderful Life, which was released seventy years ago this week. Jimmy Stewart …
There is a recurring dream I’ve been having for 34 years. It is the last term before my A levels and I am trying to revise Geography but, horrifyingly, I have done none of the course work. Not a single essay. I move from classroom to classroom, fearful of what and who will be behind …
On Monday, I went to a memorial service for a former colleague. These things are often a duty or an obligation, and it’s true that they're seldom an unalloyed pleasure. But this time I really wanted to be there, to honour the person we were remembering. At first, my colleague and I weren't exactly friends. …
It's great to have a lot of money. I know this to be true because once a month I feel as if I have a lot of money and I like it. It makes me wonder whether I might buy a new bike, or some new sneakers, whether I might go out for dinner or …
I’m afraid this is a selfish and slightly whiny Pause. I spend a lot of time travelling. By which I don’t mean that I am perpetually whisked from airport lounge to first class cabin to penthouse suite. That’s what my brother Bill does, selling pizza in Siberia, Azerbaijan and Senegal. I kid you not. No. …
Like most English people, I'm excellent at saying sorry. Sorry is almost never the hardest word. It’s a piece of cake. I can do the unnecessary sorry when no-one is upset. I can do the polite sorry that suggests someone else’s fault is my own. I can do the ridiculous sorry which means that something …
Our house is full of arguments. In this, I’m pretty sure we are no different from most families. We argue over who sits where in the car. We argue over who has the most roast potatoes. We argue over football, homework, housework, and scrabble. We argue mostly at table, when we eat, where the conversation …
When my son Silas was still at primary school, he was constantly told to ‘be the best he could be’. It drove him nuts. Sometimes, we just need to be what we are. And anyway, being the best we can be doesn’t always feel like enough, especially when we catch a glimpse of our heroes. …