Life after Bobby: Life Journeys

Today it’s two years since my Dad died, a marker of sorts, just another day, and an anniversary all at once. I’m never quite sure how to mark anniversaries, does your death day deserve a celebration? In a culture that so readily celebrates birth days, why not death days too? I mused this quite a […]

Life after Bobby: time passing

This weekend was/would have been Dad’s 67th birthday. I mentioned it to a few people on twitter and got a couple messages from people asking how I was and mentioning I’d not blogged lately, when I checked back this post is long overdue. What to share really, well at the risk of stating the obvious, […]

The moment of truth #hairhack

Wow, what a day. I pride myself on being quite good with words, they’re my preferred tool, and usually I can sit down, think for a moment and the fingers just start typing and the words come. Not today. Today I can’t find the right words, or rather I can find the words, but not […]

Liberation promised #hairhack

Today is the day, at 2pm my hair will come off. All of it. I’m completely delighted to share that the running total of funds raised for Rowcroft Hospice and JusticeforLB is £5,380, a huge amount of money that will support the great work of both causes. There’s still time if you want to give […]

Life after Bobby: Father’s Day

I can’t remember Father’s Day last year, I suspect I dismissed it as a hallmark holiday, a little grumble and moved on. This is my second Father’s Day since Dad died and I’ve been raging all week when I open my inbox!! Lots of really drossy, ill considered, spammy emails…earn extra [insert generic loyalty brand] […]

Asking for help

I watched a TED talk by Amanda Palmer last week, it was doing the rounds on facebook in one of those articles that is guaranteed to put me off! Enough people I respect commented or shared it for my interest to be peaked and I’m really glad I watched it. I would highly recommend the […]

Meeting a living (and dying) legend #yodo

Last night I had the absolute honour to attend the Dying Matters annual lecture at the Royal College of Physicians. The theme You Only Die Once: Kate Granger’s story. Kate sent me a DM asking if I’d like to come a couple months ago, and I can honestly say I wandered around with a grin […]

Life after Bobby: Grief turbulence

Ding dong! Hello, this is your First Officer speaking, please return to your seats and fasten your seat-belts as soon as possible. As you are aware we have entered a period of turbulence, myself and your Captain today will do all we can to adjust our altitude to ensure a safe and pleasant journey for you. […]

In defence of the selfie

Short, random post for you all. The selfie (word of the year for 2013) has been getting some schtick lately, not least because Barrack Obama decided to take one at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. There’s a whole other blog post right there, but I’ve been thinking a lot about selfies, what they represent, and whether they’re […]

Five things I wish I knew when I offered to give a eulogy

Waking today I remembered that twelve months ago, the 29th November, was an equally drab and grey November morning. Not too much different to any other autumn morning when the sun stays at half light as though its too apathetic to break through the clouds. It suited me, felt like an honest reflection of my […]