That Mona Lisa Smile and Stendhal Syndrome

That Mona Lisa Smile and Stendhal Syndrome   A few weeks ago I got to finally visit the Louvre in Paris. A word of warning: this is the second biggest museum in the world. Even knowing this didn’t not prepare me for the sheer scale of the place. It is ENORMOUS. Unbelievably big. I’ve walked [...]

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Making it to the very top ~ success in stages

Making it to the very top ~ success in stages I’m scared of heights. Really scared, actually. It’s not logical at all but it’s powerful and paralysing at times. It’s not so much a conscious fear but more an experiential one. There are sensations I experience when in high places that are very unpleasant. Vertigo [...]

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Bringing Dead Men To Life ~ a guest post by Richard Pierce

Bringing Dead Men To Life ( I  met Richard via Twitter and we got talking about all sorts of things, and when I heard about his new book Dead Men I was totally hooked. I’m a bit of a Boys’ Own sort of girl and any tale of heroism gets me interested. But the tragic tale [...]

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The Year in Review: highs, lows, triumphs and tragedies of 2011

The Year in Review: highs, lows, triumphs and tragedies of 2011   It’s the very last day of the year and I thought I might do a quick run through of how the year has been for me. Travel: countless trips with students to London, Cambridge, Norwich and so on. Enjoyable, as I get time [...]

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Lost #4

Lost #4 There are no paths. All around me, endless shades of green, with some brown and red and orange as counterpoint, and no opening, no indication that anyone has ever come this way before. I sag against the trunk of the tree I have just climbed, the memory of those distant mountains burned into [...]

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Is Life a Labyrinth or a Maze? ~ a philosophical question

The two words are used synonymously but they actually mean something different. A labyrinth is a maze where all you have to do is walk and keep walking and you will reach the centre: As long as you simply follow the path, you will reach the centre. A maze on the other hand has false [...]

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Roseberry Topping ~ a poem about conquering fear

Roseberry Topping (July 2006) The last time I stood here, I did not stand at all: I crouched, turning my back On the view I’d come to see, Fingernails seeking purchase On scarred beige rocks. This time, I stand proud, Nervous still but upright, Stray strands of hair Whipping wildly in the wind Like prayer [...]

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Landlocked ~ a poem about craving the sea

Landlocked When I wake, I want to feel The sea breeze creeping cool Through my open window, Filling the room with the scent Of the salt tang and the seaweed. When I wake, I want to hear Gulls, not rooks, calling raucously Beyond my open window And hear not the soft sough Of the wind in [...]

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Making an Impression on the world ~ or why we can never be merely observers

Making an impression on the world ~ or why we can never be merely observers  My most recent trip brought home to me in a number of ways how much of an impression we can make as individuals on the world and how easy it is to underestimate the impact our actions and inactions can have [...]

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Follow the leader or Blindman’s Buff? ~ where are we going and who do we follow?

I took this photo in France in April. The line is a column of caterpillars from the pine processionary moth. These creatures migrate en masse to pupate, and do so in a line where each creature holds the rear end of the one in front of it. You can(with gloves, as they are quite toxic, [...]

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