Podcasts

Touchy about hearing loss?

November 18, 2016

It’s funny how people tend to be more sensitive about hearing than eyesight.

Joining a gym at 75: a weighty move

November 4, 2016

In which the Sergeant Major wins a tough battle and sends me off the practise calisthenics (in modern parlance, strength exercise, at a local gym.

Learning to breathe all over again

September 30, 2016

So, the next boot camp task was to practise slow breathing, using the diaphram instead of chest and shoulders. Breathing like a baby. Breathing the way my poor body yearns to breathe. The schedule: breathe in to two counts, breathe out to five. Just for five minutes before sleep. How hard could that be? Even […]

Decoding a table of contents

September 25, 2016

I’m looking at the table of contents (TOC) of Fixing Mrs Philpott, my new novel, and thinking that it tells a story. First clue: that a table of contents is even provided. A quick glance at other novels on my shelves suggests that the norm is probably to have no table of contents, but merely to number the […]

Unloading the larynx: not for sissies

September 23, 2016

It’s boot camp year. I don’t say no to anything that could help me achieve my prep-for-old-age goals. I’m on stage three of working on my voice. So, off I went to Peter Chum, specialist voice-and-breathing physiotherapist for performers. I do perform (in more ways than one) and I want to give every performance my best whether singing […]