We are bombarded these days with advice about what to eat and when, what exercise to take and how often, not to mention all those things we are not supposed to do, like enjoying a good glass of wine…

Those of you in your 60s may not think about dying all that much. It feels a long way away – unless you have some life-threatening disease or are closely involved with someone who does.

It’s the kind of thought we easily put away for another…

Have you ever stopped to think about how very odd it is to have children? It is, when you come to think about it, one of the most peculiar things we ever do. The decision to have children is an enormous leap in the dark, with very little control…

Have you ever cooked from Irma Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking? Please raise your hand. I can’t see you, of course, but I would guess there are quite a few. It was a sort of cooking bible in my house in the 1950s. My father…

A lot of people, so I am told, feel that a happy long marriage is simply not possible. Yes, people fall in love and get married, but the initial excitement with each other wears off sooner or later. And then people just cope with each other and their annoying…

When my first grandson was born nearly 16 years ago, I was busy with my work and my own life. His parents lived an hour away from my house, which made two hours travelling if I did the round trip on the same day…

Yes, I am about to reach the big 80. It’s not a surprise. I have seen it coming for some years. But I only started thinking about it recently. We all tend to make a bit of a meal of the decade birthdays, although less so at age 10 (all part of childhood) and age 20…

“I’ve had my three score years and ten. I really can’t complain – all the rest is extra.” These are the words of my father a few years before he died. The number these days – probably even then – might not be exactly right when calculating the average…

Three weeks or so ago, I had that old familiar bitter-sweet pang of regret. Not really serious – and it never lasts very long. Nor does it happen often. Perhaps once every six or eight years. It’s not exactly real pain. Just a sense of melancholy. A thought of what…

“Everyone makes mistakes – and so do I,” sang the wonderful Big Bird in Sesame Street all those years ago. I still remember the tune of that song. And the message is great. I was brought up to feel I shouldn’t make mistakes, I shouldn’t get things wrong…