I’m gypsy and proud
Exciting news from my father’s cousin in Canada. ‘You asked about our grandfather, there is much to tell,’ he writes.…
My medical embarrassments are my business and no one else’s
While we were looking forward to Freedom Day, the National Health Service was busy planning something extra special to coincide…
The truth about Surrey’s obsession with horse masks
A saloon car pulled up opposite our fields and a man sat there looking at the horses with a bewildered…
Why I finally succumbed to my musclebound osteopath
‘You’ll come back when you’re in enough pain,’ said the osteopath as I walked out of his door. That was…
How can we feed our horses when there’s no hay?
‘We’re closed for lunch,’ said the farmer, sitting behind the counter of his farm shop with a scowl on his…
Crunch time: why has Walkers changed its salt and vinegar crisps?
Henry Walker might never have got into the crisp business were it not for the fact that his Leicester butcher’s…
Just how far will the NHS go to get me jabbed up?
More threatening letters from the NHS demanding I let them jab me up with two Covid vaccinations. Or as the…
Our local councillors who’ve lost their seats must be sighing with relief
An angry text exchange between me and a former Tory councillor after she lost her seat has got me thinking.…
Why do hygienists self-sabotage?
‘You’re meant to be having your dental appointment now!’ barked the receptionist, bringing my lie-in to an abrupt end. Very…
Why the Tories won’t let me display a local election poster
Being told by the Tories not to put a local election poster in my window because it will only remind…
When people say ‘do your bit for your country’ what they mean is ‘do your bit for my holiday’
Trying to get hold of HRT in the time of Covid is like trying to score crack. Possibly, scoring crack…
Our doctor’s surgery is beginning to look like a Category A penitentiary
When the time came for the nurse to ring me to take my blood pressure, the phone simply didn’t ring.…
‘Protect the NHS’ is all very well, but when will the NHS protect us?
After refusing to issue my HRT without a blood pressure test, the GP surgery rang to offer me an appointment.…
How not to walk a dog
Watching a woman driving a dog past my house like a carthorse is just another ‘new normal’ of lockdown. This…
The ugly truth about natural horsemanship
The rope riders came down the driveway slowly, their horses veering this way and that, side to side, forwards a…
Why I’ve gone right off the police
‘Welcome to Victims First. Please leave your name and number and we will return your call. Beeeeeeeeeeeep!’ I had rung…
Lockdown is making a criminal of me
‘Have you had your jab, Margery?’ said one Surrey lady to another in the queue for take-away coffee at the…
The curse of semi-invisible road signs
‘We’re sorry your experience with us has not been a good one,’ said the press officer at Surrey Police. ‘You…
Beware the hobby bobby
‘Anything you say may be given in evidence. Do you have anything to say?’ I looked at the baby-faced police…
The mystical power of the word ‘unsafe’
The street light as bright as the Dog Star was fitted with a shield, and I was assigned my own…
My quest for the perfect bean burger
Eventually, I got so bored I ended up at Burger King. For no other reason than to amuse myself one…
Had the kitchen shop assistant been drugged and handcuffed?
The kitchen tap began dripping as if it knew perfectly well that this would land me in a predicament whereby…
Surrey county council has abolished night time
An everlasting lightbulb brighter than the Dog Star was installed in the street lamp outside my house one morning as…
What’s a squashed dog between neighbours?
Not long after he took on a smallholding for his cobs, the builder boyfriend found a couple walking through his…
Join me for weekly Scream If You’re Going Round The Bend
Never mind Clap for Carers, I’m trying to start a new weekly morale booster called Scream If You’re Going Round…
