Ways To Escape The Friend Zone
Developing feelings for a friend is common and awkward. A few patient steps make the next move clearer and kinder....
The Compliment You Did Not Say Out Loud
Most of us have a stock of kind things we never got round to saying, and a much shorter route for the unkind ones. The imbalance is a habit rather than a character....
Nobody Is Easy To Live With, Including You
A short and unwelcome truth about living alongside anybody, and the one question it replaces the search for the right person with....
Friendship Is Mostly About Staying
Friends matter and we forget to say so. Three ordinary habits keep a friendship in good repair, and the middle one is the one people misread as neglect....
Five Things To Teach A Child Before Ten
Parenting is challenging and it is not complicated. Five things worth getting across early, and the one that carries all of them....
Some Things Cannot Be Gathered Up Again
An old story about a rumour, a judge and a handful of paper, and the arithmetic underneath it that has only got worse since the story was written....
Difficult, Or Simply Formed Elsewhere
When somebody will not come round, the quickest available explanation is that they are being unreasonable. It is also the explanation that ends the conversation....
The Ones Doing The Teaching Are Smaller
Grown-ups approach children with a list of what to pass on. The traffic runs both ways, and the direction we notice least is the one worth noticing....
Gossip Stops When You Stop Supplying It
The neighbour who asks too many questions is running on material. Almost everything that works against them comes down to cutting the supply....
Gift Ideas For Grandmother
Three gifts for the grandmother who is already delighted just to see you, including one that costs nothing and is usually the one she keeps....