Walking the Devil’s Dyke

Posted by on Mar 28, 2010 in Personal, Ramblers, updates | 4 comments I met up with my friend Audrie today to walk along Devil’s Dyke from the picturesque villages of Reach to Woodditton. When I meet up with my usual stalwart ramblers, they are equipped in sturdy boots and Berghaus walking gear. I had to blink when I saw Audrie arrive in her purple velvet tunic dress over denim jeans. Audrie is a free spirited walker who adds a welcome touch of panache to us...
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Thriplow daffodils, Morris dancing, and a chance encounter with our woman Speaker

Posted by on Mar 21, 2010 in Personal | 8 comments It’s true, the daffodils were scarce at the 42nd Thriplow Daffodil Weekend following our cold winter, but there were plenty of other attractions to remind me of England at its best. It helped that this was a green and unspoilt English village, a mix of traditional old cottages and immaculate modern homes, complete with a local blacksmiths. There was no graffiti or untidy, littered bus shelters...
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My Toastmasters election special

Posted by on Mar 3, 2010 in Toastmasters | 2 comments Last night I was Table Topics Master at Cambridge Speakers’ Club and I invited  members and courageous guests to imagine they were parliamentary candidates trying to win votes. The role of the TTM is to provide different questions which speakers can respond to totally spontaneously, to make them think on their feet for up to two minutes. I decided to repeat a topic which I did two years...
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The joys of Shakespeare

Posted by on Feb 16, 2010 in Personal | 11 comments One of my greatest pleasures in life is to see Shakespeare at The Globe Theatre where I imagine myself back in those daring theatrical days of Elizabethan England. I sit there totally enthralled by the whole experience. My son David used to be my Shakespeare buddy – he enjoyed the unique setting too – but his life has many other distractions now, so I shall be joined this year by my dear...
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My latest walk

Posted by on Feb 8, 2010 in Ramblers | 5 comments Meldreth circular walk Map your trip with EveryTrail Many thanks to Geoff Jones for sending me this fabulous EveryTrail link for a walk we did yesterday with Sally and the Cambridge Rambling Club. I did try to make my excuses the day before – too many jobs to catch up on in the house, etc – but Geoff was having  none of it and called me to say he expected to see me there. So I...
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Another day in Westminster

Posted by on Feb 3, 2010 in Personal, updates | 5 comments I’m back in Westminster today researching a project I am working on, and look forward to meeting the inspirational Lesley Abdela who I first met at a Conservative Women’s conference a couple of years ago. Last year Lesley won the UK Woman Political Journalist of the Year Award. She is a highly regarded international women’s rights campaigner and has worked for more than 25 years...
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No wonder supermarkets are so rich

Posted by on Jan 20, 2010 in Personal, PR client, Robert Sturdy MEP | 8 comments I have a savoury tooth, rather than sweet, and often enjoy a slice of wholemeal bread (preferably organic) topped with crumbly cottage cheese (to keep the calories down). At least, it always used to be crumbly, but now it looks more like stodgy looking porridge. I’ve just opened a pot and was forced to scoop out several large spoonfuls of milk from the top before I could get to the cheese,...
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Another son on the road

Posted by on Jan 12, 2010 in Personal | 18 comments It’s hard to believe that my youngest son James is 17 today; where have the years flown by? Like his elder brother, we have bought him some driving lessons. It’s a very nerve wracking experience teaching your son to drive in your car which you treasure. A number of times David wouldn’t speak to me after I yanked up the handbrake in a moment of panic, and I dread re-living those anxious...
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Memories of a special nativity – Merry Christmas

Posted by on Dec 23, 2009 in Personal | 22 comments This favourite photo sits on my bookcase, memories of a special nativity 13 years ago when my youngest son James was four. He is pictured as a shepherd kneeling in the front row with the striped sheet wrapped round his head. It was taken during a unique nativity service  in St Laurence’s Church, Wicken, a neighbouring village. I remember the magic of this particular service, with pews...
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The wonders of walking, is it the new rock’n’roll?

Posted by on Dec 20, 2009 in Personal, Toastmasters | 17 comments My last Toastmasters’ speech a couple of weeks ago was about the many wonders of walking; my joy of belonging to The Ramblers’ Association and the Ramblers Group in Cambridge. There were many smiles when I told the audience they could literally walk into love, just like Geoff Jones and Sally in Norfolk did, and other couples that I have met while leaping across a stile. Small surprise then...
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A festive treat to rival Pamela Anderson

Posted by on Dec 16, 2009 in Personal | 4 comments I’m taking my music loving pa-in-law to an amazing Christmas show tomorrow in a tiny Norfolk hamlet which attracts 130,000 people a year, boosting the local economy by a cool £8 million. The £2.5 million Christmas Spectacular in Thursford is pure thrilling entertainment in the old-fashioned sense, including the high kicking Tiller girls, and is recognised as being the largest show of its...
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I’m in team Andre

Posted by on Nov 17, 2009 in Personal | 5 comments I caught up with the desperate fame seeking celebs in the jungle last night and couldn’t work out why Jordan had to go all that way to seek “closure”. It was in this jungle that she met Pete Andre and fell in love with him five years ago. They later married and had two lovely children, but earlier this year announced their separation. My wish is that Pete secretly arrives in a helicopter...
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Many thanks to the Daily Express

Posted by on Oct 20, 2009 in Being the Soham Psychic | 18 comments My thanks to journalist Becky Sheaves for the double page spread in today’s Daily Express about a book I wrote with psychic Dennis McKenzie. It has nine 5-star reviews on Amazon. There is also a huge banner on the front page of the paper promoting the article. The paper really sums up Dennis well and refers to some of the cases highlighted in the book, Being the Soham Psychic. It ends with...
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My mum’s adventure

Posted by on Oct 3, 2009 in Personal | 8 comments Ever since my mother-in-law died last month, my mother Loula has been anxious to visit the country of her birth, Greece. She particularly wanted to stay in a favourite hotel in Rhodes where she had spent many happy holidays with my late father. Unfortunately, it was not possible to arrange because the flights from Gatwick were either too early or too late. So my sister Rosalind put plan B into...
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My letter in The Times

Posted by on Sep 26, 2009 in Personal | 12 comments I have been following readers’ letters in The Times about palliative care for the dying and penned one describing my personal experiences following the recent death of my mother-in-law Vera. I found it distressing to watch Vera unable to swallow fluids in the her last days, particularly as a small sponge on a stick which I had used to dip in water and moisten the mouth of my father in his last...
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Cowardly mugger robs my frail but feisty friend

Posted by on Sep 21, 2009 in Personal | 10 comments My author friend Jean Adamson was mugged yesterday. The shameless robber escaped with her purse and left her lying in the road with a broken arm. Jean is 81-years-old and has a frail build, but is full of feisty spirit that I hope will see her through this terrible ordeal. She is immensely popular in the village where we live because of her kindness and non-judgemental views towards all young...
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Did the Derren Brown chair trick work for you?

Posted by on Sep 20, 2009 in Personal | 5 comments James (my 16-year-old) and I have just tried the Derren Brown chair trick, but it didn’t work for us. We recorded it on Friday night when half his audience found they were unable to get up again after following his mind games. “I’m worried that I won’t get up in time to get the brownies out of the oven if I become stuck,” I told James, as I fixed my attention on the screen as...
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Vera and Liverpool Care Pathway

Posted by on Sep 15, 2009 in Personal | 34 comments This afternoon is Vera’s funeral, my mother-in-law who passed away 10 days ago. I thought I would share my experiences of her medical care in her last few weeks following controversial headlines about the Liverpool Care Pathway and reports that one in four families are not informed when doctors decide that terminally ill patients should be left to die. While families can accept that a loved...
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Apple magic, a reunion and 5 star reviews

Posted by on Sep 13, 2009 in Being the Soham Psychic, Personal | 3 comments Last night we took my recently bereaved father-in-law, Roy, to a concert performed by his former fellow musicians in the Huntingdonshire Concert Band which he belonged to for many years until stepping down to care for Vera as her health deteriorated. It was a Battle of Britain Wings Appeal Concert and I knew Roy would have been in his element if he had been on stage with them playing percussion....
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A tribute to Vera, the land army girl

Posted by on Sep 7, 2009 in Personal | 16 comments It is a fitting tribute to Vera, my dear mother-in-law who passed away peacefully on Saturday, that the BBC should broadcast a drama starting today called Land Girls. Vera hailed from Tottenham and was one of a group commissioned to Ely as a stunning 18-year-old to do her bit for the war as a land army girl. Just as romance will feature prominently in the drama, it was in this Fenland cathedral...
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Zeus, assisted suicide and the 2,000 year old olive tree

Posted by on Aug 26, 2009 in Personal | 3 comments I wonder if this is the first known case of assisted suicide, according to Zeus and Greek mythology, which was told to me by our tour guide Vera on the Greek island of Zakinthos during my recent holiday. You can also hear Panayiotis playing his pipes under the bough of the reputed 2,000-year-old olive...
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Being the Soham Psychic

Posted by on Aug 20, 2009 in Being the Soham Psychic | 34 comments I can now tell you about the book I have been working on over the last year. A copy has just arrived on my doormat, which is a totally thrilling experience. And it is on a topic which is totally different to my normal line of work. Do you believe in psychics? When I am asked this, I reply that I believe in Dennis McKenzie, best known as the “Soham Psychic” for the chillingly accurate...
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My holiday highlights

Posted by on Aug 17, 2009 in Personal | 24 comments We have just returned bronzed and refreshed from our cruise around the Med which we shared with 3,000 plus passengers on P & O’s amazing new flagship, The Venturer. It was so vast that I only mastered my way around its countless corridors – all beige and identical – by the end of our 16 day trip. Here are some of my highlights: Most unusual kiss: This happened on the Greek island of...
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Sailing off into the sunset ….

Posted by on Jul 30, 2009 in Personal | 20 comments Like David Cameron, I have packed a selection of light reading (though not trashy!), for my holiday which starts tomorrow. It includes the works of two new authors for me, Justin Cartwright and A. L. Kennedy, as well as The Great Lover, by Jill Dawson – a novel about my adored Grantchester poet Rupert Brooke. I’ve bumped into Jill in my gym in Ely a couple of times and went to her book...
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Hoping we stay clear of swine flu

Posted by on Jul 21, 2009 in Personal | 8 comments In about 10 days we set off for a cruise around the Med. But I am becoming increasingly concerned about the threat of swine flu. A friend we are travelling with – who works in a doctor’s practice – told me last night that one of their staff was off with swine flu. My husband then mentioned that three or four of his colleagues have been sent home from work as suspected cases. This must mean...
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