My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
The things we do for art… In the name of researching a book, I have to check my facts. And most of the time, fact checking is very pleasurable. Take going on location, for instance. Research trips have taken me to France, Scotland, The Isle of Skye, Cornwall, East Anglia, St Albans, Dublin. It’s only …
On Friday, I had a lovely evening out with fourteen other people, friends, family. There was food, laughter, much hugging and kissing. On Saturday I went speed dating. With foreign language students. So not dating exactly. And definitely no hugging and kissing. On Sunday, I went to see my brother and his wife and we …
I’m no great mathematician, but I loved Venn diagrams at school. I enjoyed looking at the universal set, which is everything, and the overlapping circles or other shapes within that illustrated the logical relationships between two or more sets of items. I was fascinated by how things overlapped; how certain things appear in only one …
It’s a question we’re often asked, as a light moment of humorous reflection. If you hosted a dinner party, which famous celebrities, living or otherwise, would you invite? I’ve researched a few of the top answers. I suppose people's responses tell us something about the host. After all, if we’re inviting them to our table, …
Continue reading Which Celebrity Would You Invite to a Dinner Party?
I love this term – the oxygen of publicity. Although - didn't Margaret Thatcher come up with it first, in the context of learning to starve the oxygen from terrorism, or something? I'm using it here to refer to negative views and comments that seem to fill the internet and the airwaves and come to …
We don’t ask to be born into privilege. But privilege is something we have in varied amounts, whoever we are. Perhaps being male, being white, being educated, being wealthy are privileges. It depends on complexities, who you are, where you are, and what your situation. There are, of course, many more privileges than this. Certainly, …
Winston is a rat. He lives somewhere near my garden. He’s brown, with a very long tail. He has a sweet little face. He’s not very old. He’s cute. And he’s very naughty. I think he must also be hungry. He spends a lot of time mooching around outside looking for food. And he steals …
Thank you for reading my blog! I’m bewildered by the miracle of blogging. I sit here in the middle of rural England at a desk writing a few random thoughts. I schedule the time for the blog to go out and whoosh! As if by magic, people across the globe stop to read it. As …
I'm a huge believer in positivity. It's not always easy to practise what one preaches, but it often seems that, on the days where we feel upbeat and cheerful, good things come to us and we feel strong. We succeed. On other days, when we feel a bit unsure of our potential, we're going to …
The winter is always great fun. First you get Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night, and the dark sky is our best friend, a backdrop of stars while we’re out trick-and-treating, or filled with billowing smoke and fizzing rockets in all colours. The smell of baking potatoes hangs on the air, fried onions, spicy parkin – whatever …
Continue reading You know it’s spring when…(A UK perspective.)
That quintessence of dust 