“Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with golden lacquer. It teaches us to embrace damage and flaws.” — ManGill. For most of my adult life I have helped repair the sick. Many had their lives suddenly shattered and altered forever. It was a job at which I was quite good. Recently, the… Read more

“I wisely started with a map…” J. R. R. Tolkien Our family likes maps. In fact Melissa is extremely fond of them, her copy of the Times World Atlas never far from hand. Maps are fascinating, as is the fact that you only ever need five colours to represent the countries, no matter the size,… Read more

“It is better to open and see, than wait and see…” Sidney Cuthbert Wallace All surgeons can be princesses at times, but this one really was. Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits was born in the then Russian Empire in 1870. Her father was a local politician, who was awarded the hereditary title of prince. Vera studied… Read more