A story about loss through divorce — Ask any mother how they’d feel if the relationship with their child was broken beyond repair. Shattered? Desperate? Guilty? Suicidal? My answer is yes, to all of the above. The defining moment of this story comes amid a very unpleasant divorce. It is spring of 1991, and I have just…

Who knew the deli counter held such power? — “Please can I have a kilo of Inspiration and six packets of Endurance.” “Will that be all for today?” “Oh, wait, sorry, I just remembered I have people coming over tonight. I’ll need a few slices of Patience too. How big are they?” “Very small.” “That won’t be enough. …

But still, what the hell were you thinking? — I understand you were deluded. You can’t be blamed for constructing the future out of movies and magazines. It was 1969. Things were very different then. You had a picture in your head. In front of a crackling fire, reading great poetry to your eternal love. Soft classical piano music…

If you don’t like randomness, don’t read this. Sorry, I’m genetically British. That is definitely a non sequitur, as I think British people are very non random. Orderly. Look how they spontaneously queue, without instruction. When I was thirteen, I read all of Hemingway’s books twice and wrote a fifty-page thesis on why he…

Life is short, don’t miss the chance to act. — Right now the house is so still I can hear inside my head. It’s the kind of quiet in movies just before the earthquakes or the bomb drops. This room in the half-light of twilight feels watched. White noise is welcome. If not for its gentle hum, the voices of…

Sometimes it’s not just a Yes/No solution. — Good morning, ma’am, my name is Artie, and I am from the Medium Partner Program Re-Education Service. I have some information to tell you. Under the terms of our relationship on Medium I am compelled to read you the conditions that apply before we can continue our conversation. …

A little bit them and a lot of me, but I couldn’t wait to leave — I hated high school. Can you imagine, every morning getting up and putting on the same boring uniform? Itchy navy knickers, short-sleeved, royal blue dress, white ankle socks and polished Mary Janes. In Winter, we added equally itchy blue tights, a wool sweater, and a thick blue blazer. …

We Need to Find a Way Out of This Bullshit and Do Better Together — My parents brought me up to be a ‘decent’ human. When I was six they smacked the crap out of me because I called someone a “darkie”. I didn’t say it out of spite. I’d read it somewhere, or heard it from someone else at school. I didn’t know better…

Do we have to be compassionate towards a perpetrator? — Last Wednesday, something happened to my daughter, Laura, and her eight-year-old son, Luca. They are traumatised and I feel angry. Usually, at 6.50 a.m. the leafy suburban backstreets around the local Primary School are pin-drop quiet, except for the occasional harried mum or dad driving, or walking, their still yawning…