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The garden's getting away from me. I like it's nonchalant wildness. But also, when our gardener gets back from leave, He'll mow the lawn so that the wildness of the veld grasses and the chaos of the burgeoning flower beds will seem curated. I'll walk a bit more confidently knowing that if I stick to the paths, I'm unlikely to step on a frog or a snake. If I want to venture into the wild verges, I'll go slowly, attentively, looking for threats or treats, and usually, in this r

It's because, normally, we think we know. We are predisposed to certainty - our brains project patterns onto the randomness of the world and reassure us: "Tomorrow will be just like this." Literally, our brains are designed to do this - create a sense of "normal" in the frontal cortex, so that anomalies can be noticed, and interrogated for threat or opportunity. It makes us comfortable, allows us to believe that we are in control. And so we live our lives of middle-class, anx

Within weeks of my husband passing away I snapped into self-care mode. Better than I have ever done in my entire life before. It resulted from the thought that this is certainly what my husband would have wanted me to do. Had he been able he would have driven me to the chiropractor and paid with his own credit card. And not just looking after my health: I got my hair sorted out, I bought some new skin care products, I bought a few new things to wear - and not just the cheapes

Covid lockdown changed me. Many of us. I started to write.