May
31
2013
Running the mountain
In about February this year I started to run. Not very far, and really not very fast, but I was doing my best Forrest impersonation and that was fairly impressive for me really.
Apr
6
2013
Waiting for the stories
When I was 2 years old, my dad went to war.
It’s the kind of thing that you think of in movie terms really, despite the fact that about over 35 active conflicts or warzones in the world at any one time these days.
Feb
2
2013
The Naming of Things
On the way to a wedding up the West Coast this afternoon the Barefoot man (who has variously also been named the Barefoot Mountain Man; the Barefoot Runner; the Barefoot Minister, and – more often – “love”) and I were listening to an audio book by Bill Bryson about the history of private life called “At Home”.
Having moved into a monument status rectory in a little English village, he tells us, he was curious about the history of the house and in investigating was confronted with the idea that much of history is actually ordinary people carrying on with their ordinary lives, with short bursts of excitement in between in the form of wars, invasions, and the like. Most of history is actually about normal people like us “eating, sleeping, having sex and endeavouring to amuse themselves.” Continue reading
Dec
7
2012
In the garden of dappled mornings
Every morning (give or take a meeting or two), Phoebe-dog and I have a ritual. The barefoot man goes off to work at around 7am (he’s running an NGO in the mornings now – www.sdr.org.za) and then Phoebe-dog and I snuggle in bed (the only time she’s allowed on the bed), she has breakfast and then lies watchfully at the bedroom door while I get dressed and made-up and stuff. Because she knows that as soon as everything and everyone is tidy and ready to face the day, we get to go out the door, down the passage (which she does literally with a Foxy hop, skip & jump), down the stairs and into the complex garden which needs a key for that mysterious green lock.
Oct
30
2012
The relativity of real life
We don’t get away very often, and the barefoot man has an interesting view on our lives – he thinks that we’ve shaped and chosen them quite carefully (now and through many trials by fire on both sides) and we find ourselves in a very special place – the place where you love so much about your life that you don’t really feel the need to take a break from it very often.