with the curtains closed, and the birthday girl sitting waiting, waiting with everyone else waiting too, and then the cake, with nine candles blazing, the beautiful sound of everyone singing her name and then quiet, as her face is all lit up in a way that no camera can ever capture though every year i [...]

the smell of scones, baking in the oven, as children try to wash the dough from their hands with always a bit stuck under their nails, then laying out the jam- always raspberry for me, please- and maybe some cream, waiting for them to rise as they bake, before taking them out to wait for [...]

that feeling of excitement, which pours right back from when i was wee, of listening to local radio, reading out school names in alphabetical order (which i never realised when i was wee so i used to wait, disbelieving, right to the very end, hoping hoping that they had maybe just forgotten my school) and [...]

walking in the snow at night, when all is silent, somehow a deeper silence than a normal night, with a velvetdarkblue sky and stars as clear as glitter, where the wholeworld seems more perfect, more beautiful and the magic of children’s stories seems to be right there, so close it fills you up with all [...]