With the turning back of the clocks this week, my mind has turned to the concept of overwintering. Flocks of pink-footed geese and droves of diving ducks are arriving from colder places to the West. Gardeners are moving their agapanthus and cordyline plants into greenhouses. The beachside funfairs are pulling up their end-of-season tarpaulins and the local golf clubs are dusting off their tee box…
When my Father hit seventy the family took him to Berlin as a special treat. We booked a fabulous hotel, gave him the guidebook and told him that when we got there he had complete control over what we did. His trip. His choice. We forgot that my Dad has many good characteristics, but the ability to plan is not one of them. After two…
An alarming fact dropped into my email in box today. The cost of a Master of Fine Arts degree at Columbia University is now $74,250. That’s just for a one year course. Which prompted me to ponder me: Is art now too expensive for most people to learn? It’s not quite so much in the UK – an MA in Fine Art at Central St Martins costs…
Jim Carrey recently announced his retirement from acting. At the same time he released a short film about his love of painting called I Needed Colour in which he speaks about the importance of art in his life. (See the firm embedded below.) In an interview about his decision to step back from the film world he said: “I really like my quiet life, and I really…
(And five ways to overcome the block) It was a great idea. I was going to write a series of funny, engaging blogs about the similarities and differences between law and art, between being a Judge and a creative person who now coaches both lawyers and artists and makes my own work. There was a ton of interesting ideas in my head and it was…
Do you feel that you don’t really belong in the world in which you work? Do you lack confidence and feel like an, imposter only pretending to be professional? Do you feel you are not entitled to have your job title or the recognition you have achieved even though you enjoy your work and have formal qualifications? I’ve never met a lawyer yet who hasn’t…
Languishing is the topic of the moment. Psychologist Adam Grant wrote an article about it for the New York Times back in May 2021 and since then his ideas have gone viral with any number of publications recycling his comments. It hit a nerve because the term ‘languishing’ explains perfectly the ‘meh’ feeling that so many people around the world have as the pandemic lingers….
Last week Lucy Reed wrote a , eloquent and thought-provoking blog entitled Wellbeing Fatigue. The rant (her word) should be read in full here , but the nub of it was that she was sick of wellbeing tips. She stated ‘the problems that were frying our resilience and longevity are structural not internal to us as individuals – take away the ‘look how busy I am b***s**t’ and there is…
Mr Carson* was my second-year chemistry teacher. My sister remembers him for his dandruff ridden comb-over and predilection for taking the eighteen year old male sixth formers to the Abbey pub at lunchtimes. I remember him as the man who unfairly ruined my Effort Card. Every term we were sent home from school with a two-columned card on which every teacher had given us two…
I have a pair of full length caramel leather boots that are mocking me. They are flopped over in my porch next to the shoe cabinet they don’t fit in. Of course, I don’t see them often because the front door is only used now for Tesco and DPD deliveries. Because my husband’s study is a flight of stairs nearer the door than my office…