The local Post Office manager is one of the most confident people I know. She is also my boss, and I have found her to be approachable and fair when I have done something wrong (I am comparatively new to my job and only work part-time) and is quick to praise when things go well.…

If money was no object then I would spend a weekend in London’s Oxford and Regent’s Streets at Christmas after dark when there are glittering lights crossing them, and all the shops had stunning window displays. Not only would I buy presents, but a new winter coat and boots from Selfridges for example, and visit…

I wasn’t a great achiever as a child. I got some things, but usually after going back again and again to get skills like the cycling proficiency certificate, which I managed to fail three times before passing. Ballet was another weak point, but I was not allowed to take the exams, so that was more…

That’s the advice I would give my teenage self. I wasted a lot of time doing just what I wanted to do rather than knuckling down to learn, and therefore I ended up leaving my comprehensive school with a few mediocre CSEs (as they were known in those days). I was a late developer. I…

There are those who don’t want monarchy in the UK because they are seen as being too privileged and too costly, but so’s having a president, and there would be the political nonsense and bias that goes with democracy. I’m not a royalist in the full sense of the world. I have never travelled to…