The grey pencil is finally blunt, and a bright yellow one scribbles its glory across the heavens — but this does not stop my getting up to mischief. I send Moo Hefner a text saying it’s nice to have spent the best part of my life dreaming and building a house for strange children. He replies, “I can see how that might irk.” He excuses the presence of strange children by saying the boyfriend of the mother of these children, Manfred, “gives me good assistance with the problems

I hear Mum rustling in the kitchen like a hedgehog, and when I go in she’s unpacking the dishwasher and looks tired. “Mum, I can tell you...

Maryse is coming to visit at 1. I walk into the kitchen chirpily, despite today signalling the end of tea and toast in bed. "I am pleased...

The world continues to be grim grey and the bird song is eerie, like an echoing guitar twang. At this point in the goings-on of the...

The white walls of my room extend into an infinite greyness that hovers outside; sulking. The country has been misty and flooding ever...

Today is a big day, as Mum and I are getting our hair done. Mum comes into my room, puts down my tea and toast, and then, alarmingly,...

I wake poised to sneeze, which is terrifying. I don’t have any stitches but seem to have been glued together, so I have a fear of...

Last night I became an insomniac with Jiminy Cricket reminding me of all the things I must put right and all the things I have done...

I wake up in the real world for the first time since I left Leigh on Boxing Day. I lie in a real bed and stare at the trees through the...

On New Year’s Day, I walk out of North Shore Hospital. I am feeling hesitant to leave my old-fashioned spaceship, where you can’t touch...

Round about, round about ’Lo and behold. Reel away, reel away Straw into gold Rumpelstiltskin Brothers Grimm...

The birds are singing the bees are buzzing the ants are working the ducks are quacking the leaves are crunching the trees are swaying the...

Two Christmases ago, I nearly died as adhesions tried to strangle my bowel. They tried again this Christmas, but these ones were phantom...

Fleur Adcock one of New Zealand’s greatest poets died at the end of last year (10 October 2024). She was my mother’s oldest friend and...

"The approach of Christmas brings harassment and dread to many excellent people. They have to buy a cartload of presents, and they never...

I was in the sauna at the Olympic pool on Wednesday with my 67-year-old friend Nina, who used to be a Chinese ballet dancer. She is still...

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won’t either, for solitude will break you with its yearning. You...

One day, love will come in the form of somebody who wants to give more than take, and you will know why love is rare. My future...

On day one of the school holidays, I threw off my cloak of invisibility and became a superhero, a guardian of two living treasures flown...

I am innocently going to Roger’s garden centre in Mangere to buy some plants for my new gardener, Manu, who is parking his caravan...