I have a particular fondness for farce, both in real life and on the stage, and so it was with great pleasure that I attended press night at The Theatre, Chipping Norton for their ‘home-grown’ production of Alarms and Excursions, by Michael Frayn. The play comprises six scenes, each portraying a different snapshot of lives […]
Thinking
Do I know you?
I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable. In true English style I will always apologise before complaining or breaking bad news, rushing to fill an awkward pause when someone has spoken out of turn. The other day someone stopped me in the street. ‘I haven’t seen you for ages!’ she said, ‘how are you?’ I […]
The start of a new year
When you are a parent of school-age children the year divides itself automatically into term-sized chunks, and the winter break has always been my favourite. Not only because of Christmas, which fills our house with magic, but because the whole world seems to stop for two weeks. The phone doesn’t ring, there are no meetings […]
BBC Women in Radio: an inspiring day
The BBC Women in Radio event was not at all what I expected. I had read about the BBC’s commitment to increasing the number of female voices on local radio, and I was hugely excited to have won one of the twenty external places available for the day. I anticipated an interesting, informative and probably […]
Planking
It would be fair to say that I am not in peak physical condition. (Please, do try to at least look surprised). Clearly I must take some responsibility for this deterioration of a body which, in its prime, was enviably taut and supple: after all, those Bourbons don’t march out of the biscuit tin by […]
Social media: where do you hide?
I’m a big fan of social media. Talk to me on Twitter, find me on Facebook, or picture me on Pinterest: I’m all over it like an Instagrammed rash. My husband is grudgingly tolerant of what he calls my constant ‘over exposure’. He recognises it as part of who I am, and – more astutely […]