I was interested to read in the paper last year an article headed “Birdbrain magpies outwit scientists by removing trackers”. It appears that researchers in Australia fitted harnesses with tiny trackers to the birds in an attempt to learn more about their flying habits and social dynamics.  In order for the birds to remove the…

One New Year’s Eve, several years ago, I was up in Sheffield with my husband visiting his family. We decided to walk to the neighbouring village in order to join in the festivities. The walk back involved my husband and his friend trying to outdo each other with ghost stories. We had to walk back…

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a programme on the BBC “Take a hike” the concept is nothing new, five total strangers, meet up and over the course of a week, they share a common interest, taking it in turn to plan the events of a day at a time.  In secret, they…

Have you ever put something away in a safe place only to discover later that it was so safe that you couldn’t actually find it. Recently some items in my house have been “lost.” In December I bought a couple of Christmas cards with “Felixstowe” on them to send to my sister and brother. I…

We live very close to the River Gipping. There is a pair of swans resident along the bank. They are large, majestic and quite intimidating. I decided to research the lives of swans, because although beautiful to watch swimming, to me, their necks seem very long and awkward and I wondered how they supported their…

The feast of Candlemas falls exactly forty days after Christmas, so always on 2nd February. Three things come together today. First, for Mary, forty days was the period during which, as a new mother, she must stay away from the temple. The Old Testament Law tells us that after the birth of a Son, the…