June 2016. Hubby and I dutifully cast our votes in a once-in-a-lifetime referendum offering a simple, binary choice: Leave or Remain. We knew we were going to vote different ways and our votes would cancel out. In effect, we might as well not have bothered – but we both agree that voting is important. I … More Middle England by Jonathan Coe
In my first year at university I went on a double date with an old school friend to see Mary O’Malley’s comedy play Once a Catholic. My friend and I had attended an all-girl grammar school run by nuns; my boyfriend, too, was RC – we met when I was invited to sing with his … More Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
Hubby and I spent a week in France last summer to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. 30 years! Where did they go? When you’ve no kids, you live in a Peter Pan-like bubble where you never seem to get any older and time doesn’t seem to pass until…bam! A significant anniversary hits and it’s hard … More Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
I’ve been meaning for ages to visit capital cities in Scandinavia and the Baltic States, and with Brexit looming I decided this summer was the perfect time to turn talk into action. So in June hubby and I set off on our own little travel adventure, taking in Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and … More Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
During World War II US troops were stationed in Liverpool at a barracks not far from where my granddad, Martin Nesbitt, lived. The story goes that one day Martin, too old to be conscripted, boarded a tram full of US soldiers. In one part of the car were white GIs and in another, keeping apart, … More The Sellout by Paul Beatty
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