It was a trip three years in the waiting. We booked the family holiday back in 2019. When Covid hadn’t yet started its deadly rampage, when ‘social distancing’ was unheard of, and when you could cough in public without causing alarm. With homes miles apart, my Mum and siblings and I were looking forward to … More Third Time Lucky
It was a typical Sunday morning. The radio was playing love songs, Kepler was chewing his toy squirrel, and the Covid tests were brewing on the side. As I served up the runny egg soldiers, I glanced across at them. Over the past eighteen months, we’ve stuck many swabs down our throat and up our … More I Caught Covid
Nine years ago -this week- I collapsed whilst getting ready for work. Overnight my life changed. Completely and totally. Previously a busy and active primary school teacher, now I struggled to breathe and move and live. And no one knew why. For six difficult and exhausting months, I battled to subsist with my unfamiliar disabilities … More Happy Anniversary Lungs!
I was behind the wheel of our car, when Phil rang. We were enroute to the MOT garage in our nearest town, driving in convoy. Except he was ringing to say we weren’t. Turns out that after two months of chilling on the driveway, the campervan battery was dead. So instead, he was five miles … More My First Taste of Freedom
At the weekend I turned my central heating on for the first time. I debated whether to take that significant step for a few hours, before eventually my shivering body and blue fingers convinced me it was time. It was the day. It couldn’t be put off any longer. So I did. And although it … More Saying Goodbye To My Superpowers
My house reeks of vinegar. Despite opening all of the windows, my clothes have a sharp aroma, my eyes gently sting and I fear I’m slowly pickling the dog. No, I’ve not developed an unhealthy obsession with chip shop eggs… it’s chutney making season again. In my life before Pulmonary Hypertension, there was no chutney … More The Head Gardener
We’ve driven past the outskirts of the New Forest countless times, but never before been tempted to turn off at the junction. From the A338, it looks like an expense of knee-high bracken, wild ferns and the odd spiky bush. A perfect wilderness for walkers, but completely inaccessible for my mobility scooter. Turns out there … More An Accessible National Park
It was one of those precious times where the whole world is rosy and the face can’t stop grinning. One of those rare occasions where the specialness of a moment is realised at the very time it is occurring. I was bobbing at sea, aboard an inflatable dingy, laughing as Phil attempted to row us … More My Best PH Holiday
We have some solar powered fairy lights draped around the greenhouse in our garden. Throughout the winter months, they glimmer quietly and faintly, for just a wee hour, before shutting down and going back to sleep. However, come summer and sunshine, they are transformed. Beaming brightly all night long, they sparkle and shine, illuminating their … More Solar Powered Sarah
Today I woke up crying that I wasn’t a teacher. It always surprises me when this happens. When I was first ill, I would regularly think about my former job, and pine for the life I’d lost. But then over time, I slowly accepted it, and moved on, and found happiness again in my new … More I Miss Being A Teacher
We Can Adjust The Sails 