… for gooseberries. I just found a tray of these rare beauties at the farmers’ market. I’ve looked for them ever since we left Italy  –  they are a mystery to Italians, as unfathomable as rhubarb or horseradish. Last summer I asked at a few local shops but all I got was a rueful shaking of the…

 We didn’t go to church this morning because, well, never mind why … without church Sunday is shapeless. Mr F went out for newspapers while I waited for a friend’s taxi to arrive to take him to the airport. I wish a) my husband wouldn’t buy newspapers and b) I could find the self-discipline not to…

As I was saying before I was enveloped in a red haze, the C word that really gets you into trouble these days is ‘conservative’. The assumption is made, particularly in media circles, that one is a member of the socialism-lite club. That one has wrapped oneself if not in the nasty old-fashioned hammer and sickle…

   Yesterday was Memorial Saturday in the Orthodox Church, sometimes called Soul Saturday but that rings a bit too funky for me.  In the church calendar there are several of these commemorations of the dead, the Saturday before Pentecost  being one of them. So yesterday an extra Liturgy was celebrated followed by a panikhida or memorial…

I’ve hesitated before writing this post. Criticising the BBC can so easily seem like sour grapes: they used to put work my way and now they don’t and yeah, yeah, they need to encourage young talent. They need to air drama that’s relevant.  The last piece the BBC commissioned from me was a dramatisation of Little…

   This morning I turned up at Specsavers for a checkup, as requested, and discovered I was a clerical error. I’ve often suspected as much. So, finding myself with a free hour before I was due to meet Mr F for lunch I did what any self-respecting girl would do: tried on hats. I love…

No grand theme this evening, no rant. Just a few floor sweepings accompanied by a weary sigh. The latest club drug is apparently something called Coma Juice. You obtain it by squeezing those little pads impregnated with nail polish remover into your Bacardi & Coke and it induces feelings of happiness. Until you discover it destroyed your kidneys.…