Vicky Ewan

I have been employed - and very happily so - as parish secretary for nearly fourteen years. Until recently, I held an additional position: cook-housekeeper for a resident priest whose neurodiverse needs made providing for himself too problematic. I was engaged in this dual-role capacity for over fiv...

I feel as though we have lost an essential contributor to consumer satisfaction in recent years, almost without noticing its stealthy departure. Little by little, the powerful upswing in online shopping and the increasingly sophisticated usage of it, though doubtlessly valuable in myriad ways, have ...

Quite by accident, my husband and I found ourselves in the midst of a car festival one recent weekend. We had arranged an evening in the company of friends of ours who live in the place that was playing host to this event without being aware that the date we had chosen would coincide with the festiv...

It's always enjoyable to learn about the secret skills of celebrities; skills perhaps unexpected, perhaps obscure, which may not be common knowledge and whose revelation can be rather satisfying. Perhaps that rather lofty British actor knows how to juggle; maybe that irritating politician could choo...

When my brother and sister-in-law got married five years ago, they chose to limit the legal ceremony and ensuing celebration to their closest family on each side. Thus it was that seventeen of us gathered at a pretty location to witness the joining of these two special people in matrimony, to love a...

In a world where our working lives dominate the majority of our waking hours, I recognise that I am fortunate indeed. The reason? I am now gainfully employed in not just one, not even two, but three jobs that I love - a situation which I hope will remain for years to come. Like one of my heroines, M...

Lately, there seems to be a growing wish for the development of adult-only spaces and gatherings on our shores. Torquay’s own graceful Tessier Gardens makes no apology for implementing this preference; it was in the covenant laid down by the creator of the gardens, who bequeathed its verdant c...

I thought it was high time I gave you some updates on our recalcitrant pooch - ‘Miss Pupdates’ if you’ll indulge the expression. It is the time of year when she is obliged to eschew her favourite place on earth (save for her familial home) - the beach - and content herself with mor...

I was rather dismayed recently to learn that inmates on America's notorious Death Row are no longer permitted a last meal request. Now, I should disclose, with haste, that this decision in no way personally affects me - or not, at least, so far; I harbour no desire to relocate to the States, and hav...

In the days leading up to my recent birthday, my thoughtful daughter got in touch to request my availability around the big day (it wasn't THAT big a date, I hasten to add; I am still 40-something - though the something is rapidly diminishing as I hurtle toward the next decade, all panicked attempts...