I almost joined a queue for gelato the other day. The queue, socially distanced after a fashion, almost merged with the next queue, outside a coffee & cake takeaway that has recently opened, two doors down, on Great Western Road. Everywhere on this mild, early spring Sunday afternoon were queues…

I spent over an hour the other morning attempting to get through to my energy company, who had informed me via email that they were ‘sorry to see me go’. I had made no request to transfer my supply. The phone number provided for erroneous transfers was receiving an extra…

Sitting in the dentist’s waiting room, I missed the spread of up-to-date magazines that used to be on offer. (What is the actual chance of catching COVID from a magazine? It’s all about aerosols, not fomites.) The only distraction, apart from my phone, was the wall-mounted TV. I can’t read…

Two days after my head-cracking spill on black ice, I still had a headache. I felt distressed and slightly nauseous. I knew that I was probably overthinking it and that worrying wouldn’t help. Too bad: my capacity for rationality and emotional restraint is not an abstract spiritual power but embodied…