By March 1981 I'd been exchanging letters with the handsome Englishman for five months. At times I doubted his sincerity. Showing affection seemed to come easily to him. Yet we hardly knew each other and had only met twice the previous October.At least the fights and recriminations with my ex-fiance … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 4
My university lectures restarted the last week of October 1980. But my mind was not on Macro Economics. All I could think about was my handsome Englishman. The words of the first letter were engraved onto my brain. He told me he lived in a house in Portsmouth, which he shared with three friends, all … [Read more...]
Michael Jackson
I wasn't really a fan, and hadn't realised how much his music played in the background of my life until, this morning, I heard the many tracks he'd written. I fell in love while 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough' was played in a Helsinki bar. In one of the happiest times of my life I remember dancing … [Read more...]
Best Shop in Oxford
I've never been much of a vintage shop lover. I know it's all the rage but I've never got past the door because of the smell. (I have a very sensitive nose)But this shop changed my mind. I popped in for several reasons. It's opposite son's college and he said it was run by a 'Mad French Woman'. I … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 3
The first letter was a wonderful surprise. It arrived ten days after I’d said goodbye to the Englishman and twelve days after I’d met him at the Embassy cocktail party. When I found the blue oblong air mail envelope on my doormat, I nearly screamed. I held it in my hand for just a moment. It was … [Read more...]
Bad Hair and Book Club
Though it’s my daughter who’s taking the A 2’s, they’ve affected me too. I’ve not had one trip to London since her school ended almost three weeks ago. Nobody has forced me stay home and look after her, but I’m a mother and want to be here to support her and pick her up if her confidence wobbles. … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 2
On a Thursday in mid October in 1980, I was baking bread in the small kitchenette of my Helsinki flat. It was two days after the Embassy Party where I'd met the Englishman. Who'd promised to phone and hadn't. I knew sooner or later I'd have to come clean to my boyfriend. But not tonight. I started … [Read more...]
Exams and The Hangover
The house is gripped by exam panic. Today, at this very moment, it's English (Lit or Lang...I should know). I'm meant to be getting on with Lost Daughter, the sequel to The Red King of Helsinki, a spy novel which at this very moment is being spectacularly ignored, rejected or laughed at by several … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part one
'Englishmen are boring,' I told my then boyfriend. It was his third phone call. He didn't like that I was getting ready for a British Embassy cocktail party in honour of a Royal Naval visit to Helsinki. I was going as a favour to a friend from work, Maria. She'd been unlucky in love. It was October … [Read more...]
Hay and the state of our democracy
At my first Hay-on-Wye literature festival we were reduced to camping having booked too late to get a nice B&B in Hay itself. Well, I thought, sometimes you need to suffer for your art woman, what's so terrible about sleeping under canvas for one night? The weather was wonderful but my back … [Read more...]
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