Twinning at life..?

“You’ve got your hands full” winks the middle-aged man with the bald patch as he holds the door open for my double pram at an angle that makes it impossible to squeeze us all through. I smile my gratitude and pretend that he’s not the fifth person today to make the exact same remark. What…

Peace & Love (no rotten bones)

One of life’s greatest moments is that feeling you get when you walk out of the hairdresser’s. You know the one. Your hair bounces as if gravity doesn’t exist and you’re pretty sure that every person walking past in the street is looking at your new swishy ‘do with admiration. Occasionally there’s an upbeat backing…

#Livingmybestlife

I let my head nod and eyes glaze as the wizened opinions of yet another doctor well above me in the career ladder washed over my head. This chap was the third person this week to tell me the absolute correct and only way I should be directing my career and living my life. Every…

Invisible Bravery Award

I couldn’t help but notice the white knuckles of the lady as she gripped her partner’s hand. She was 26 – my age exactly – and going through one of the worst days of her life. I had just delivered the news that she had had a miscarriage, and as I used long forceps to…

Am I depressed?

Am I depressed? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself every night as I drive home with tears threatening to block my vision, and the lingering thought that if I turned the steering wheel just an inch to the right I might not have to go in to work tomorrow. Am I depressed, or am…

I Think, Therefore I Am.

On the Open Day for Manchester University seven years ago, I remember peering out of the car window and seeing people who looked a similar age to myself walking around the streets, going about their student business. But there was something harrowingly wrong with them. There were lots of people walking, but they all seemed…