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TURNING 60

Cathy Howells

HOW IT ALL STARTED

This  blog started out being about my experience of the months leading up to my 60th birthday in May 2020, and the running challenge I'd set myself. Well what a weird few months they turned out to be. Not just for me. But for all of us. So now it's a blog for anyone who wants to read about the challenges we face as human beings. And to say to themselves...

 

"Phew! It's not just me then".  

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One for sorrow...

Magpies are often drawn to my garden. Rarely just one (for sorrow). Usually two (for joy). Or three or four (for a girl or a boy)....

Life's a Gas

Back in 1972, when I was 12, 132 pairs of Marc Bolan’s glittery eyes smouldered sexily at me from my walls. I counted them once. Five...

Getting the Ealing Feeling

Eleven years ago, a man called Kelvin Walker had a vision. He jacked in his job, remortgaged the family home and poured his energy into...

How I write

People often ask me about my writing. Where I get ideas. How I go about writing blogs. Whether I’ll write a book. Good questions, all....

Fear of puddles

The morning is warm and the downpour torrential. I check my app for hours with less than 50% chance of rain. There aren’t any. It’s been...

A journey to Deptford

Every Thursday I travel from Ealing to Deptford for my personal training session. Some say it’s a long way to go. But it’s not just the...

Beyond the comfort zone

Right way up, feet on the ground, I’m inside my comfort zone. Upside down, body suspended in mid-air, gripping a couple of rings, I’m...

Skinning the cat

This is Matt. Matt is skinning the cat. And he’s coaching me to skin the cat. I’m a long way off doing that. But, as I learnt last year,...

Me and Robert Zimmerman

We were born on the same day, me and Robert Zimmerman. The same day. 19 years apart. Him in 1941. Me in 1960. By the time I was born,...

My mind has a mind of its own

There’s a woman, a known face locally, who walks in Walpole Park. Always, she’s shouting at someone. Threatening them with wild gestures....

Waiting for the future

Many times, I’ve waited. For the friend to arrive. For the run to end. For the client to give feedback. For the man to commit. I’ve...

If you'd asked me what I wanted to be...

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 15, I’d have said… “Suzi Quatro”. A small tattooed wild-cat girl leading an all-male...

Learning to breathe

I’ve been doing a lot of breathing recently. Not just the ordinary kind that keeps you alive. But breathing that keeps you calm, healthy,...

The Butterfly Effect

When I was at school, an English teacher read us Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder. In it, a group of time travellers from 2055 returns...

Passing Brompton Road

A couple of weeks back, I went on a virtual journey. I took a tour round Brompton Road tube station. Never heard of it? It's not...

The canal challenge and what happens next

One sunny morning last November, I ran in a direction I hadn't run in before. I crossed a field, ran down a slope and found myself on a...

Getting lost

You wouldn’t think anyone would want or need a guide to getting lost. But apparently they do. Rebecca Solnit’s book has done very well....

Moving through the mist

An extraordinary white mist lay across Ealing Fields when I was out for my morning run yesterday. The road behind me had been bright and...

In memoriam - a pot and a dry stone wall

Remembrance is important when we’ve loved and lost someone. We can use it to help us heal. To remind us of the good times. To enable us...

The eye of the beholder

A few years ago, at Walthamstow’s E17 Art Trail, I bought some paintings. “Fantastic”, I thought when I saw them. “Records spinning on a...

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