Platinum Jubilee! I remember getting a name muddled. It was 1953, and I had just turned four years old. Mum had carnations in her little garden in Liverpool, and I was calling them ‘coronations’ it was a word I had heard a lot, it must have been the main news…
Out of Bounds ‘Out of Bounds!’ A tiresome school rubric which, loosely translated, meant: ‘If you are planning to go to that area, keep your head down’. I’ve been thinking about boundaries—a subject that could fly off unbounded in many directions, nearly all leading to philosophy and deep water. What…
It’s forty years this summer since my community moved from Cockfosters to Turvey Abbey. We didn’t all move on the same day, but by September 1981 we were all resident at the Abbey. I was with the community at the time, having become a novice in May that year. Here…
There are many possibilities for circular walks along the footpaths and bridleways around Turvey, and I have been enjoying trying them out. I like to see how the current paths compare with those shown on the old maps of Turvey Parish. Sometime last year I had walked to Picts Hill…
Actually, it’s not summer, but mid February. On the footpaths it is mud, glorious mud, the snowdrops at the bottom of our garden need little life jackets, lesser celandine is coming up all over the place, the days are lengthening . . . spring is creeping into our strange lockdown…
They’re after money again! Latest bright idea?—Tax the whole world. How? Conduct a census, order everyone back to their own town. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time, and you’ll get more than a fine if you ignore the Romans. Mary is expecting her first child at any time,…
We’ve lived through some hard and challenging times this year, and we are all too aware that there’s more hardship and uncertainty to come. In the middle of that we’re celebrating the feast of St Benedict so I’ve been looking to the Rule for wisdom and insights for these times….
Some years ago I took a photo of my teenage nephew Jess in our garden with the Abbey in the background. He subsequently posted the photo on Facebook with the caption ‘At Auntie Thelma’s house’. We at the Abbey rather enjoyed that, I’d finally made it to the ranks of…