50:50

The last fifteen months have been unusual. While unable to see friends and family face-to-face we have got creative with video calls, Zoom meet-ups and virtual get-togethers. However, I wonder if, like me, you have let some relationships become more distant? Perhaps deliberately because you find the person challenging or unintentionally because you're both preoccupied with other things. I was delighted to reconnect with two important people in my life over the last couple of weeks. One is a friend who I haven't seen for a few years, she has had a tricky time and I am so pleased that we were able to meet with some other friends over a drink and some knitting and catch up. The other is a young man who lived here as a teenager, who called me out of the blue, his memory jogged when he passed a place that we had once been to together. So I challenge you to phone a friend, meet up with a former colleague, have coffee with a neighbour or organise lunch with family. The more ways we ha...

  Very early one Sunday morning Missy Moo and I headed to the beach for a walk before the day got too hot for exercise. We took breakfast with us and enjoyed the sights and sounds of other early birds: some fishing and others launching their boats. Missy enjoyed her dawn dip while I was content to sit on a rock, eat my picnic breakfast and watch her search for the perfect pebble.

  Back in 1987 when I started my GCSE English Literature course, the first book we read was Far From The Madding Crowd.  A publisher hit on the idea of launching a series of classic, hard-back books and accompanying magazines with Hardy's novel.  No doubt many parents bought it for their fifteen year old and stopped after the first issue, but my mum bought all 52 books, one a fortnight for two years.  I still have them all on a shelf, bar one which was chewed up by the dog. I  have only read a handful of them, so including this challenge on my list might encourage me to open a few more. I chose Treasure Island mostly because it's short. It's easily read in a weekend and, last week when I put my phone aside for 48 hours, it provided some swashbuckling, adventurous entertainment. 

I spend far too much of my time staring at screens: PC, laptop, TV, phone.... Some of it is necessary for work or to communicate with friends but the majority is mindless, wasted time. It can't be healthy, either physically or mentally, to be so absorbed by the opinions of strangers on social media. It can't hurt to be lost in one's own thoughts occasionally either instead of checking a notification, scrolling through posts or playing a game. So I set myself the challenge of going 48 hours without using my phone, computer or television. Here's what I noticed. Firstly, I discovered that I have so much more time available when I can't waste it online. Not only did I complete my to do list but I added more tasks to it. I had time to prepare lovely meals from scratch, to read a book from beginning to end, to potter in the garden, to work on a knitted cardigan for a baby who will probably have outgrown it before I finish and to take the dog somewhere lovely instead of th...

  A few weeks ago I booked an appointment to donate blood, a quick online process which took minutes. Like many people I had been meaning to do it for years, but never quite got around to it. A few days earlier a medical questionnaire had arrived in the post, to be filled in beforehand, and I arrived at a community centre at my appointed time - form in hand, mask on face and slightly nervous. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, the donors were kept two metres from each other and the process was explained very well. My favourite part was the reclining chair, which tipped me backwards at an angle reminiscent of both a fairground ride and a dentist's chair, but was strangely relaxing. Unfortunately however, that was the end of my experience. My veins were declared "tricky" and my blood wasn't taken. So, if we are going to be strict about these goals, I didn't achieve this one. However I'm ticking it off anyway, in the hope that one of you will read this post and...

  Some of the items on this list have been put there so that I just stop procrastinating and get them done. Others are things that I think would be good for me or things I haven't done in a while. This one however is the fulfillment of something I have wanted to do for a long time, holding a beautiful bird of prey. I spent the morning at West Sussex Falconry in the village of Compton. Even the journey there, through narrow country lanes and past cornflower blue fields and chocolate box villages, was an adventure. Sally's beautiful home is tucked between a farm and a church and as we walked through to the patio for tea and homemade cake, we passed some of her beautiful birds sunning themselves in the garden. Sally's extensive knowledge and immense love for them was obvious. She introduced us to her hawks and owls, explaining a little about each of their backgrounds, and even let us meet her new baby Barn Owl. Then we had a chance to handle the birds before walking over to th...