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First, a brief history lesson. Paris was built upon subterranean voids created by quarrying limestone for its grand buildings. You might have spotted the flaw in this plan and, indeed, after several streets collapsed, it was decided to shore up these underground spaces, creating kilometres of work and inspection tunnels. In the late 18th…

as a wife, mother, crofter, carer, B and B, tutor,  community clerk, luckily not all at once!  The B and B meant the house was busy, lighthouse artificers, students, ecologists, and many nationalities, our children still remember camping in sleeping-bags on haybales in the Bedford, when a TV crew was staying. Days were full…

There is something rather strange, yet wonderful, about this year’s garden. The grass that turned brown and crunchy is again greener than ever. We are taught that in summer we need to water the vegetables, flowers and fruit trees. When the weather is hot, we worry about everything drying out. And yet, despite the…

““They were some bangers today!”Perhaps an unusual thing to hear at the end of Holy Hour, but that was the feedback after aselection of Marian anthems during our May devotion. Mary, who could be called the very firstTabernacle, was the first to carry the true Body of Christ.Hymns are a wonderful part of our…

There is something special about how we experience things: the joy of opening a beautifully wrapped gift, listening to a moving piece of music on the radio when we truly have the time to enjoy it, or simply sitting in the sunshine watching the world go by. What we receive from these moments is deeply shaped…

All things on earth age at the same rate, it’s just that time has more traction on some objects than others, so the signs of ageing differ. On a sliding scale, we’re somewhere between Arthur’s Seat and broccoli, a little to the right of David Attenborough. Having recently become elderly myself, I pondered the…

It was repetitive, relentless work, but well paid because of the unsociable hours, and the noise meant one could switch off, attending only to Nobby calling the breaks and rotations. A pneumatic boom-bap, a ker-clunk as satisfying as the librarian’s stamp, as plastic bottles of all sizes and colours took shape, from giant old-fashioned…

There’s this manWhom I adoreWe sit togetherOn the floor Forehead to foreheadPalm to palmHe steadies my soulAccepts as I am I walk this pathWith Him aloneNo need to for wordsNo grounds to atone As He isAs I amHim and IOn the floor I wrote this many years ago as I often found praying difficult,…

I’ve always found guided meditation to be a daunting and uncomfortable practice, the opposite of its intended purpose. I fidget, my breathing becomes rapid and shallow, and panic washes over me as I invariably plan an escape route. Dramatic? Yes. Elaborate? Definitely, but I just know I need to get out! I recently made some…

A few years ago I was in a supermarket when a woman approached me. She was familiar to me and it turns out we used to sit near each other in church. “Are you that man who used to throw his kid in the air?” A little context. Parents and grandparents know that looking…