“Step on to the Isle of Wight ferry, step back in time. At least, that’s what it has always felt like to me, the years peeling back as the ferry pushes out into the Solent.” It’s difficult to me to talk about the Isle of Wight without feeling emotional – …
“Everything about the sun-soaked Canary Islands, which were added to the UK’s travel corridor list in late October, always seems to feel bigger and brighter. I’ve paid the Spanish islands a visit at least once a year since I was a teenager, and the enormity of the place always strikes …
“During the recent heatwave, BBC London visited Southend. In 30-plus-degree heat, the reporter stood at Jubilee Beach and spoke of a lack of social distancing as a ribbon of broiling bodies stretched away behind her. They seemed to occupy every single shingle and, frankly, the coverage almost put me off …
When I lost my mum, back in 2016, I was at a total loss. Some 20 years earlier I had lost my dad, and I had become used to the constant ache of his absense. But this was something new, something far more painful. After the pain of the funeral, …
“The windscreen is wall-to-wall blue, my bonnet pointing up so vertically it feels like the car could tip backwards at any moment and send me tumbling. I push my foot down harder on the accelerator and feel the lurch of the engine kicking in, propelling me upwards, seemingly into the …
