I wrote what I believed was a considered article about the experience of being biracial for the Daily Mail’s ‘Femail’ section in November...

In my just-published 'hairmoir', Hair Apparent - A Voyage Around My Roots,  I talk briefly about my unfulfilling stints as an au-pair in...

I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m no animal lover. But that doesn’t mean that by definition I’m an animal hater. Most people...

The flowers look lovely in the big picture window with the sun streaming through them. An unexpected gift of lilies and roses which I’ve...

I know that heat rises. Except in this old convent building it struggles to get beyond the first floor. It gets as far as the staff room...

Now that I commute into work again, I’m back on the planet of the phone zombies. Waiting for the 7.23 into Leeds they’re lined up and...

Six years ago (yes, I know, six!) I did a spot on BBC Radio Four’s ‘Saturday Live’ for their ‘Sound Sculpture’ feature where listeners...

The other day I put on a pair of earrings and I was transported back in time. A long-forgotten face floated up to the surface of memory:...

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.’ Luke 1:29 I was...

Florence to Perugia (2hrs 10mins on the regional line) When I’m in Italy there’s a train line I use regularly between Florence and...

Milan- Florence – 3hrs 10 mins (Don’t lean and don’t jump) The first time I took a train in Italy it was from Milan to Florence and I...

Model behaviour, top tomatoes and adventure afoot Tickets please! Anyone who’s ridden the rails for a while in Italy, ( I know, I sound...

I was putting on my make-up this morning in front of the mirror when I suddenly stopped and wondered ‘Is it too much?’ These days I only...

“God looks at the clean hands not the full” from the maxims of Publilius Syrus Latin writer (1st century bc) Anyone familiar with the...

The following was written as a sort of ‘prologue’ to jump-start me in beginning my latest book with the working title of ‘An Italian...