…if possible. I try, if something’s not working for me, to leave it for a while and do something else, like going for a walk, doing puzzles or even making the tea. I will then return to the task in hand once I’ve had a break. However, I do work for a Post Office three…

Italy is one of the most historically interesting countries I know. I would love to see the Coliseum and Vatican City, Pompeii and Florence to see how people lived during a time so much earlier than our own. There also must be just as many interesting places that are not so well known but worth…

you want to do once, then even if you fail, you know what you’re up against, and can either stop or try again. You will know how you feel about it, and whether it works for you. Knowledge helps. What’s a personal mantra or philosophy you live by? View all responses

with my partner. I wouldn’t make the holiday my wish. I can arrange that myself. No, my wish would be that he was fit enough to come away with me again. He is in his mid eighties now, twenty-one years older than me, and prefers to stay at home these days. I have been on…

of the world. Twenty years ago, I visited New Zealand. We went at Christmas, and I remember leaving the UK on a frosty night, and the warmth of the air when we landed in Auckland. My grandfather was born in New Zealand to Scottish settlers on the South Island, and although he was born in…

I don’t live in a city, but it would be nice, I think, if you could get about without the use of a car. If everybody who was fit and able left their cars at home if it is only them who needs it, then congestion would be a thing of the past. If shopping…

in Chapter Two. I have read several modern novels recently that have attractive pictures on the front and appealing back cover blurbs that have simply made the book sound more attractive than it is, and hidden the anti-climax of the content of the story. I am a keen reader of historical fiction, and have bought…

acts of kindness towards me over the years, some of which I have been able to reciprocate with favours, others I haven’t. I hope I’ve shown gratitude for them all. The most recent, however, was from a local electrical shop owner, who gave me a discount for a TV I bought from him because I…

If I had to get a tattoo it would be an image of Shakespeare, because he is the most famous, and ultimate of all our literary geniuses. I have been a Friend of Shakespeare’s Globe for the past twenty-two years, and try to see a play there three or four times a year either in…

I try to deal with uncertainty by concentrating on other things, but sometimes it comes back to the same “if” and I’m wondering and hoping again. A lot is down to outside influences, like the weather or the plans/actions of others as to whether you can move forward, and sometimes, something completely unexpected occurs that…