» Personal Change

Last weekend I was trekking along the South Downs Way, which is a long distance footpath in the South of England.  We walked from Winchester to South Harting some 32 miles in a couple of days.  Hardly a marathon performance but the furthest I’ve walk and the first time carrying a backpack.  We were blessed […][...] read more » Baggage

The time after my wife’s death, when I had to surrender my driving license, was a cosmic ‘time out’ and whilst it was initially very stressful, it forced me to surrender (or go nuts!)  It was a clearly delineated period between her death and the rest of my life.  Now I can drive again, it […][...] read more » Time out

Yesterday was another landmark day for us all at Cooke Towers, our youngest took his first steps into the world and went to Uni. It was somehow very different from when my eldest went some four years ago.   When we left her, the two of us drove home.  The house still had four of us […][...] read more » Now we are Three

For those loyal readers who have been following my story, I thought I’d let you know that on Saturday, the big day arrived when I got my license back, so I can, once more, re-enter the world of self-transporting adults… a very BIG day for me!  The first place I drove to was the newly […][...] read more » On the Road Again

The other day my brother, who has turned into a fanatical angler, came to take me out for a day’s fishing.  When I was much younger it was something I loved to do but have seldom had the chance to do it in the last 30 years.  He had to lug the now obligatory 2cwt […][...] read more » Gone Fishing

You may or may not have heard of Katherine Russell Rich, who is an American author, memoirist, and cancer survivor. But chances are that you’ll recognize the good sense of her strategies for embracing drastic personal change when it comes to your doorstep. She’s widely published and read, but in an article she wrote entitled […][...] read more » Embracing Personal Change: How Katherine Russell Rich Makes the Most of the Unexpected

I spent an exhausting day mixing concrete to repair our rather badly eroded and cracked driveway.  I guess time will tell what kind of job we have done but there is little chance it could be any worse than it already was!  It occurred to me that perhaps most of us have to rebuild on […][...] read more » Building on cracked foundations

One of the odder aspects of my recent experiences has been that not only have I been trying to pick up the ‘load’ of Carys’s role/work in the home and family but because of my circumstances, having to take an enforced ‘sabbatical’, I have found myself experiencing aspects of her life for myself.  I’m at […][...] read more » Walking a mile in her shoes

“It’s good to talk” is such a commonly held belief that it became a BT advertising slogan a while back.  Everyone seems to think that you need to talk after a traumatic event and it will somehow how help you.  I have to say that the experience of my family has been otherwise; none of […][...] read more » Who do you talk to?

I’ve been been spending much more time at home since I had to stop driving (and that is no surprise) and with that that there has been a certain withdrawal, a bit like the trees withdrawing the sap from their leaves before they drop them in the autumn.  This may just be par for the […][...] read more » No particular place to go…