Month: January 2021

During the first lockdown of 2020, the village telephone box became a library. This popular book exchange has now been adopted by the parish council and relies on kind volunteers to keep it tidy. The phone box library contains genres for all tastes, from sporting biographies and children’s books to bodice rippers and literary fiction.…… Continue reading Tales from the telephone box

I am plundering my previous blog, the original World from my Window (accept no substitute) for a long post for Australia Day today. Eleven years ago, Mr Grigg and I went to the other side of the world for a wedding in New Zealand. He had just retired and I was between jobs, so we…… Continue reading Australia Day

The snow turned Lush Places into a winter wonderland yesterday. For a brief moment, the high fields around the village became Narnia while the vale towards the Jurassic Coast could only look up at Bluebell Hill with envy. This morning, there is still snow underfoot but it’s sharp and slippery in places. It’s like stepping…… Continue reading Slush Places

Has Storm Christoph hit you yet? We’ve got the tail of it, or maybe the fingernails or split ends, but it’s still lashing the windows and sending the yew tree into a spin and the rooks in next door’s ash tree huddling for cover. I love the wind but I’m not too keen on the…… Continue reading Storm and a teacup

I’m wearing my Converse baseball boots today, the ones I was given by my son and his partner for Christmas. They’ve got glittery rainbow colours on the side and they’re fab. Reasons to be Cheerful #1 It’s all too easy to work from home in ‘loungewear’. I’m not on trend like my old friend who…… Continue reading Reasons to be cheerful – 1, 2, 3

I’ve lost count of what day it is in the UK’s Lockdown Number 3. And, frankly, I don’t care. I was going to say one lockdown kind of blends into another, but that’s not true. This one is boring, unsettling and oppressive although, in my opinion, the restrictions themselves aren’t oppressive enough, especially when yet…… Continue reading Under pressure

I’m not a great one for New Year’s resolutions, especially when they’re about giving up something. Giving up anything, especially in the black hole of a pandemic, is never easy. Far better, I think, to take on something instead, as well as appreciating just what we have and making the most of it. If nothing…… Continue reading Books I like

So now there’s another national lockdown. Not the best of days to have your car serviced an hour’s drive away in Exeter, especially when the Fiat dealer doesn’t let me have a courtesy car but instead gives us two free bus tickets to the city centre. Which is nice, but after a freezing cold fifteen-minute…… Continue reading Caught short in Lockdown 3