I know everyone, everywhere has said it, but January has been a very long month. Although it hasn’t been cold here in York, it’s been unendingly dark and grey - a month of waking up in darkness, of making stew and baked potatoes (and worrying that it’s not really cold enough for stew) of curling up on the sofa under a blanket with a book and of being at home mostly, and trying to be slow and mindful.
Read MoreI don’t remember my first swimming lesson, but it has attained almost monumental status in our family folklore. According to legend, whilst the other three year-olds in my class got into the water with no fuss , I refused to follow them and remained on the side of the learner pool, the picture of anguish and fear in Pink Panther armbands. In the end, my mum was obliged to borrow a swimming costume from another mother and accompany me into the water for the rest of the lesson (sorry, Mum!) From this ignoble beginning however, I must have decided I quite liked swimming, because going to the pool became a twice-weekly fixture in my life for the next twenty years.
Read MoreOne of my favourite kinds of YouTube videos is the nighttime routine. There’s something oddly soothing about watching people wash their faces, pack their bags for the next day and do yoga. Those videos always make me want to reassess my own evening routine and make some changes (that no-screens before bed thing is still a work in progress).
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