Mint Spies November 13, 2025 - It’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s mince pie season ... It took me a while to convert my Swiss-raised daughters to the thick sweet gloop of candied fruit in a pastry case, but, by the time they were in their early teens, we were a dedicated trio of enthusiasts. I once carried… Read More
Aristocrats and Airmen in the Alps November 6, 2025 - The Bernese village of Adelboden sits on a terrace at the end of a long valley. It is surrounded on three sides by mountains and overlooks a deep gorge. For more than 600 years the only way in and out of the village was over the mountains. Life was hard, people were poor and by… Read More
School for Life October 15, 2025 - Last night I watched a documentary about the life of Canadian actor, John Candy*. All I really knew about Candy was that he was a large man, who died at the age of forty-three. However, Trains, Planes and Automobiles is one of my favourite films so I decided to give it a go. Candy was… Read More
And They Lived Ever After October 1, 2025 - Einstein is credited as saying “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” In 1965 my father gave me a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Unusually, there is no dedication. Instead, in wobbly handwriting are the words “Sunday… Read More
Just a Barefoot Farm Boy September 19, 2025 - In 1982 I graduated from the University of Reading and began a six month internship with Herman Hall, an educational psychologist in New York. Herman worked in private schools in the Carnegie Hill district of Manhattan. Having subsequently spent several years in inner-city schools in London, it struck me that, whether financially privileged or socially… Read More
Call Me by My Name August 27, 2025 - Thea has an enduring interest in names. She knows the name of the postman (both her own and ours), the Tesco delivery man, the bin man, the waitress at the local cafe and, since, Sunday, the names of the Italian waiters at L’Artista in Letchworth. I am ashamed to admit that Dan and I have… Read More
A Beam to a Dream August 5, 2025 - Earlier this week, our 4 year-old granddaughter told us, in a tone of great earnestness, that there was something she really wanted but she didn’t think her parents would agree to it. We imagined something brightly-coloured and made of plastic, another princess doll perhaps, so we were both surprised to hear that she wanted ....… Read More
Build It and They Will Come: The World’s First Garden City June 18, 2025 - The Hertfordshire town of Letchworth entered my vocabulary in 1971. I was twelve years old and my father thought it would be a good idea to send me to boarding school – either to one in the United States, which was his first choice, or to one in the UK, a three hour drive from… Read More
Another Blank Holiday May 26, 2025 - Today is a Bank Holiday in the UK, often referred to as the ‘late May’ or the ‘Spring’ Bank Holiday. This distinguishes it from the ‘early May’ Bank Holiday and the August ‘Summer’ Bank Holiday. My American husband once asked me why all our public holidays are referred to as ‘Bank’ holidays and, quite honestly,… Read More
The Call of the South April 21, 2025 - Antarctica and the Moon have long existed as magical places in my imagination. Empty, desolate and far away, no nation has successfully laid claim to either one. There are no settlements on the Moon and only research stations and field camps at the South Pole. Antarctica is the highest continent on the planet, as well… Read More