We rise to a challenge and set a course. We take a decision. You put your mind to something. Just deciding to do it gets you halfway there. Daring to try.

And the sun on the wall of her room, the block of sun with all the tiny flying things in it. When she was little she thought they were the souls of dead insects, still buzzing in the light.

And you can't help but worry for them, love them, want for them - those who go on down the close, foetid galleries of time and space without you.

What I'm saying so badly is we're bred now to believe we're in control and should be in control.

A problem not so well understood is the growing presence of plastics in the marine food chain. If we don't make big changes fast, the fish we do save may no longer be safe to eat.

Optimism is necessary even if you don't instinctively feel it.

The desert is a spiritual place, we vaguely understand, and the sea the mere playground of our hedonism.