Her smile helped me escape their onslaught. Sinking in to her presence was akin to bathing in soft golden light - such a delight after their intensity. When my friends had moved on up the rocky riverside path, noticing my fragility, these people swooped down on me as I continued to sit at the sun splashed table there between two rivers bounded by immense walls of greenery which reflected the multiple noises rising from the bouncing waters. A while earlier, my friend C, over f

Dear President Biden, Whilst we know you do not intend to obliterate the world, your condemnation of Putin has provoked a powerful yet unbalanced Head of State, making that a possibility. Whilst we know he is culpable, this is not the right time to slap his face with a bloody rag. It is a time for diplomacy. Regardless of the anger we all feel over the aggression wreaked upon Ukraine these past six weeks, do remind yourself that the USA carpet bombed Vietnam, of your country’

She stepped towards our dark blue car and peered at her reflection, so I said, “Ha, a pink unicorn, can I stroke it?” And she leaned forwards to allow my finger to stroke her forehead as I cooed on about the superb creature which had landed beside our car. “We’re having a ball as she’s sleeping over and we can play all the games we can’t when her brother is here,” the grandmother smiled. “It is bliss.” I couldn’t help my mind flying from this idyllic moment to the far side of

Looking out over the ambulances lined up below, I shiver. Surrounded by the sick, in the hands of caring staff, I still shivered even though the dark clouds only threatened rain, not obliteration from bombs falling from the sky. I shivered again, for Ukraine. In this hospital we ask how anyone could bomb hospitals - look at these vulnerable people, weak, incapacitated, unable to defend themselves. Yet they did in Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, they are doing it now to intimidate o

A kind friend has loaned us his studio in a narrow alley in the centre of a medieval town where houses cram together, attractive to look at but not easy to live in. Having been woken at 3am, I lay awake, trying to forget the powerful currents rippling my mind. For two night’s running the radio in a first floor apartment next door has drawn me from my dreams. OK, you could say, we are only here for ten days and he who might work unusual hours needs to unwind with his favourite