Marrying a vicar means brings certain benefits. For one thing,  I now have a prayer hot-line to God.  Ordinary folks have to use standard delivery.  Who knows how long their requests will take – or if they’ll get there at all. But religious folks  - well.  We’s different.    When Rev Scriv dials,  red phones  start flashing in heaven and it’s all hands on deck. Bunkum.  God does not have a fast-track  for dog-collars . But even though we sort of ‘know’ the truth, we sometimes accept such fictions ... Read More

I’ve always been a ‘collector’.  Even when I was wee, I used to hoard  random items, shoring them up for a time when the world ran out.  There’s   safety in surplus.  My brain (and life) may be a mess, but those stacks  promise security, stability and solace. According to Paul Salkovskis, (professor of clinical psychology at Bath Uni), there are three categories of hoarder: 1. OCD hoarding. A quarter of hoarders fall into this group : they fear things could be contaminated and worry about contaminating others if ... Read More

Lyndon Hood (click for source) What’s your argument style? I’m a rhino-ostrich.  Attack! – then retreat.  Take THAT! and that! and That!  And now… I’m going to run and hide, before you have the chance to respond. Glen on the other hand, is a terrier.  He’ll sink his teeth into the argument and shake it from every angle.  He’ll sniff it and roll it and chew it and then come back to it, until it’s eyeless and legless and quivering in a  tiny knot of terror. Here’s some other ... Read More

Back in the days when people still had dinner parties, I used to find them somewhat testing.  It was all my own fault. For starters, I’d set myself a ridiculously complicated menu.  I’d then hunt down the ingredients and spend most of the day cooking myself into a state of hysteria. Next, I’d clean.  And I mean, CLEAN. I’d straighten the tea lights, hide the dodgy CDs, take the pants off the radiators and then melt into a puddle of exhaustion.   At which point the doorbell would ring and our guests would  arrive, ... Read More

What makes you anxious?  And how do you deal with it?  Here’s a few of my own personal cisterns… Not having enough. Solution: binge-eating, stock-piling groceries, buying new clothes that are exactly the same as the old ones, plotting and planning. Having too much. Solution: giving everything away, clearing out (and binning) perfectly good crockery, books, clothes.  Refusing to open things that people have bought me (they’re too good, so I should save them for some imaginary future day), trying to do good stuff to ‘earn’ a ... Read More

I never thought I’d have anything in common with James Cameron.  The man who brought us ‘Titanic: the movie’ and – worse still – a song that goes on and on and on and – (Stop! Make it stop! My ears are BLEEDING) You get the gist. But – Celine Dion aside – it turns out that we think in similar categories.  Here’s what he says; ‘People call me a perfectionist, but I’m not.  I’m a rightist: I do something until it’s right, and then I move on to the next ... Read More

Funny old day, today.  Were it dancing for my entertainment, I’d remark kindly on its sequins, and then slam it with a 3. For starters, it’s a Monday, masquerading as a Tuesday.  No-one likes that.  Or the wrench as you shift your gears from holiday back to working (or not working) week. Then there was a trip to the hospital. Hospitals are strange places at the best of times.  Just think of the hundreds of life-changing conversations and procedures that are happening there, every minute.  And yet, even though they’re on ... Read More

Image: Binge eating. Alaina Abplanalp Photography/Flickr. We read a lot about eating disorders in the news and in the glossies.  But what’s often striking are the kinds of disorders that are highlighted.  Anorexia.  To a lesser extent, bulimia. And er – that’s it. But they don’t stop there – far from it.  As well as those who have some symptoms of these disorders but not enough to qualify for an official diagnosis, there are many new kinds emerging: night-eating for example, an ongoing and persistent pattern ... Read More

What does it mean to hold out Jesus to others? I’ve been thinking about this after a conversation I had with my mum. We were talking about what it means to be a Christian.  I desperately, desperately wanted her to understand. But the more I tried to explain, the deeper I foundered.     I knew what I wanted to say.  But the words got stuck somewhere between my brain and my mouth. I wanted to say that it’s all about grace.  From start to finish, there’s nothing we can do to earn salvation – it’s all a free ... Read More

I do love a good word.  This week’s  is sclerotic.  (It’s not sexy, even though it’s been thunking through my head to a similar tune by Madonna.  ’Sclerotic, sclerotic, put your hands all over my’..Ahem ).  It’s also personally appropriate: ‘tending to rigidity and resistant to change’. I’ve been a bit sick this week and as you can tell, it’s decimated parts of my brain.  But a lot rides on how we word things.  If for example, I tell you I’ve had JUNGLE FEVER, I sound ... Read More