Jane Alexander's Blog, page 11

Gog and Magog

So... I’ve been cleansing.  Fasting for a week, which is always interesting.  Often we eat (or rather over-eat or eat crap) stuff to dampen down our emotions, to distract ourselves from what’s really going on in our lives, our selves. Well, some of us do – others may use alcohol, or work, or drugs or cigarettes or whatever.  Others, of course, may be totally conscious.  *smile*Anyhow.  It was good.  I had my own little cottage; simple, almost monk-like, yet comfo...

A ghost story for Christmas

One tradition I still keep though… There should always be a ghost story for Christmas.  Why?  I have no idea.  Does it hark back to A Christmas Carol, I wonder?  Is it another Victorian fancy?  But where did they get the idea?  Wikipedia simply says there is an ‘oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.’  Unhelpful. ‘I wrote these stories at long intervals, and most of them were read to patient friends, usually at the seasons of Christmas,’...

Bah humbug (Bottoms up!)

This time five years ago, I was sitting watching my mother die in hospital. Now it’s not usually something I dwell on.  I’m not maudlin or morbid about it because, let’s be honest, that wouldn’t help me and it most certainly wouldn’t help her.  In fact, I probably wouldn’t even have thought about it much had Adrian not wandered into my office from time to time, caught me staring into space and said, ‘You’re thinking about your mum, aren’t you?’  And I demurred for the first few...

There and back again. UnHobbitlike.

So, Suffolk...Walberswick to Dunwich, where the sea swallowed the shore.  And back again. UnHobbitlike. No gold found. Just a hagstone.  Good luck, they say.  Oh really, I say.   Oh whistle and I'll come to you, my lad...   They might be giants...sand silhouettes... A stand of trees, a stripe of shore, a slim slither of sea... The marshes...the cry of a curlew... There is someone coming...a warning to the curious? Slow water, lazy eels of streams.  What was that film,...

The Sky is Not Blue - in conversation with Sandie Zand

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, let me introduce Sandie Zand.  I met Sandie on Authonomy several years ago and consider her a very good friend.  But, as you'll know, I don't recommend books just because I like the author. Sandie is, quite simply, a stunning writer.  As I read her (newly published) book The Sky is Not Blue I found myself nodding, reading bits aloud, underscoring and annotating (this shocks Sandie but, hey, I always scribble in books I love)....

Snug, cool, snug-cool-warm...and Moccis.

Lately the word that rules my life is ‘snug’.  Could have something to do with the icy breeze gusting through the window of my office or the manic hailstorm that flung itself around the house this morning.  But maybe it’s something deeper than that.  I realised, when I was in Morocco, that much as I love hot weather, I also crave the cold.  But cold from a perspective of warmth, if you get my (snow)drift. ‘Have you ever been to that place in Iceland?’ said Emma as she...

Paralysed in the South American jungle waiting to be eaten by cannibalistic ants

So, life’s been pretty shitty lately.  The project that was going to save my bacon vanished into thin air and then the back-up plan obviously figured that looked like jolly fun and promptly followed suit.  My body decided this would be a good time to throw a hissy fit so exercising, my usual happy place, was a no-go area.  The kitchen ceiling is leaking.  The dog bit me (again).  And, to cap it all, one of my eyebrows decided to emulate Denis Healey’s. But, worst of a...

The Hedgerow Handbook

Adele Nozedar…bit of a legend.  I first met her in London, way back when I was working on the Evening Standard, pretending to be a music journalist while she was being the real deal in the music industry, running her own record label, Rhythm King.  Then she ran away to Wales and set up a recording studio in the Brecon Beacons called Twin Peaks.  She may still rub shoulders with the rock elite but she’s mainly hands-off on the music side now, preferring to spend her time grubbin...

Apparently I'm a holistic hero...

My emails have been pretty grim lately.  Not much in the way of good news.  Mainly pleading notes from my accountant and apologies from editors who can't afford to pay any more.  So, if anyone has a spare job going, do let me know.  I'm quite serious.

However, one email arrived this morning that did make me smile.  It seems Natural Health magazine has nominated me in its Beauty Awards.  I am, it seems, a 'holistic hero'.  And at first my natural (ho ho) resp...

Flatmates from hell...

So someone on Twitter was asking for flat-mate horror stories and I tweeted, ‘I had one who used to shoot at people out the window –does that count?  And the one who moved his entire family into the living room.’ And he said, 'Go on...' And then I kept remembering others who were worse.  Far worse.  And went hurtling back down memory lane again. And figured I needed a list. 
My top ten worst flat-mates.So, in no particular order, here you have it.
1. The One Who Shot Th...