When I was a child, my family had one of those guides to campsites in Great Britain. It was chock-a-block full of advertisements for places to camp all over the country. Hundreds and hundreds of listings from large holiday parks with nightly entertainment, to small fields with just a lowly toilet block. My brother and I … More The Best Bit Of Summer
If I win the lottery I’m going to buy a village. Yep, as well as a smart new campervan, an amazing off-road scooter, a house big enough for ten dogs… I’m going to purchase a whole village. Apparently for twenty million I could get a splattering of homes, an old forge and (most importantly) a … More Faraway Friends
I don’t know all of the words to ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Apparently only 3% of the population do. Every new year, when the clock strikes twelve and the singing of the traditional song begins, I repeat the same lines for every verse… and vow to learn it properly in the next twelve months. Lalalala-ing to … More Welcoming In 2018
I’m lucky. Since going on the transplant list, very little in my life has had to change. Whilst waiting on the list, some patients have to move house to live in the city of the transplant hospital… Or have to desperately fundraise the 100k needed to pay for the operation… Or have to stay hooked … More Staying Close to Harefield
For me, Summer isn’t Summer without a ‘Great British Holiday’. Sandcastles and sandals and sticks of rock. Postcards and promenades and pots of tea. Fending off the scavenging seagulls whilst munching on vinegar-soaked chips. Binge-reading piles of tourist-attraction leaflets whilst licking ice cream. Watching boats, jumping waves, collecting pebbles. Paying admissions, taking photos, ambling around … More A Great British Holiday
The ‘PHA UK Conference’ is a much anticipated event in the world of Pulmonary Hypertension! 🙂 Tickets are requested months in advance, nervous chattering proceeds the emails stating if a place has been offered, and excited plans are made in the days leading up to the event. A chance to meet Facebook friends, learn more about … More The PHA UK Conference 2017
I’m 36. An adult. A grown up. Yet I won’t stray far from my village if I’m on my own! Rewind to life before my illness, and it was very different. I’d catch buses and trains and planes alone. I’d explore cities and towns and villages alone. I’d visit people and places and parties alone. … More Learning To Trust Other People
I first met my ‘Girlies’ at university. We each joined the canoe club during Freshers Week, the only four girls from our year group: we were outnumbered. But it wasn’t until a couple of week later, our first weekend away kayaking, that we really bonded. After a day of paddling and swimming down a scary … More The Girlies Who Wouldn’t Let Me Hide
Riding the London underground is a rite of passage. My first trip was aged seventeen, with my fellow country-bumpkin school friends, on our inaugural adult-less adventure to the capital. The tube was dramatic, dark and eerie. We nervously stood staring at the map on the tunnel wall, trying to decipher the squiggle of lines. When the … More Braving the Underground
New Year’s Eve is a strange one for me. For the most part it is a big celebration, a reason to be proud. I’ve got through another year, I’ve survived, I’m still alive and hanging in there. But that happy jubilant mood is always accompanied by a slight nervous fear, a niggle at the back … More Welcome 2017
We Can Adjust The Sails 