Jeni Barnett

I’ve said it before, if you stand still long enough your life comes round to greet you. Last year I was invited to give a talk at my local Arts club. February 4th felt like an eternity away but I put it on my calendar and carried on with life. When it turned up last … Read more

Every single story that comes out about number ten and I turn into Victor Meldrew. I DONT BELIEVE IT Every single clip of Boris I DONT BELIEVE IT Every single clip of Dominic Raab I DONT BELIEVE IT Every single article news bulletin, segment, magazine spread, e-v-e-r-y single comma and full stop about the state … Read more

Friday January 28th It was 1968. ‘Hair’ had just opened in London. France was doing what it does with revolutions, And four of us were moving into a flat in Frognal Lane. Hampstead. Years later I was riffling through a box of old books in Camden Market and came across a diary from a young … Read more

Thursday meant our away-day. We left at 10.45, after Jim had carried 6 bags of coal into the garden and I had completed my dawn walk. Our bums hit the car seats at the same time and we both breathed sighs of relief that we were actually sitting down. Off we went, Nigel at the … Read more

I mis-timed my awakening. I’d set the alarm for just after seven, because dawn slid into sunrise at 7.47, but when I came out of the bathroom it was 7.54. Now I know it’s only 7 minutes of lost time but when you are as picky as I am it felt like a massive disappointment. … Read more

We’ve just had supper. The three of us sitting round the kitchen table, Bob James on the stereo. I’m wearing dungarees I bought in Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells over twenty five years ago. They are faded and frayed. So frayed, in fact, that the braces are shredded, they only fit into the adjuster, on my … Read more

I tried to meet the dawn but I didn’t get to bed until 4.00, so had a short walk at lunchtime. It’s eventime in the old cottage. The cats curled up on the armchair. The dawter’s in the bath. The ‘oosbind’s preparing supper in the kitchen. The stove is roaring and the house is warm. … Read more

Sunday January 23rd At 7.00a.m.I stood in the bathroom – ‘should I stay or should I go?’ After the briefest of washings I decided that the dawn chorus needed me. So I fed the cat and ventured out. It was still dark. The birds were just revving up. By 7.57 the sun was rising, although … Read more

Saturday January 22nd February 1st is the beginning of 2022’s Chinese New Year, ‘The Year of the Tiger.’ I only mention this because eighteen years ago, on January 22nd 2004, ‘The Year of the Monkey’ my father, aged 83, went to the monkey sanctuary in the sky. This morning the old git took me out … Read more

We went to Aldi. ‘They’re better than Lidl Cheaper than Waitrose Bigger than Tesco Cleaner than Morrisons Fresher than Sainbury’ Says everybody. So we went to Aldi – which is about 6 miles away – although the old git said the way we went today it was more like ten miles. We went to Aldi … Read more