DEAR JANE: I asked my wife to quit her job and have a baby. Her response has led me to a dreadful thought
Dear Jane,
My wife and I have been together for five years and have been married for almost a year.
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Vital' Wiltshire village community shop marks 20 years
A volunteer-run village shop which locals have called a "vital part of the community" is celebrating its 20th Community Shop was opened in 2005 by people in the village, near Devizes in Wiltshire, following the closure of the local butchers and Post shop is holding a tea party on Sunday 29 June where around 100 villagers will come together to mark 20 years since it opened."We do laugh because we could almost write a book about the things people talk about in the shop," said manager Steph Czakalo. "People come in and really love to have a chat". The shop was a product of "years of hard work" by a small group of villagers who rallied together when the Post Office closed in 2002."The first thing we did was try to establish whether the village actually wanted a shop then we recruited around 54 volunteers that we trained up," resident Paul Bancroft told BBC Radio Wiltshire."I think it's absolutely magnificent, and the shop has matured hugely."Ms Czakalo started volunteering at the shop after she moved to the area around 10 years ago."I think it was one of the reasons why I wanted to move to Urchfont, because there's not many villages where you can find a pub and a lovely shop and a great community," she said."We've tried to make it something special for all the villagers. They can pop in and buy things or we'll deliver to them."If somebody's stuck at home and they can't get out, we can pop their supplies round." The shop holds regular coffee mornings which villagers say gives them a chance to connect."We've been coming here a long time, I love the coffee hub," said resident Alison Taylor."I've been coming I think practically since it started. You can walk up here on your own and meet loads of friends."It's a vital part of the community."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Notes from a nursing home: ‘We don't speak of sadness here'
I sit in my room in this nursing home near Sydney, a box of four walls that holds all I now call my own. Two suitcases could carry it: a few clothes, some worn books, a scattering of trinkets. The thought strikes me as both stark and oddly freeing. Not long ago my world was vast, a house with rooms I rarely entered, a garden that sprawled beyond need, two cars idling in the driveway, one barely driven. Now it's gone. The house, the cars, the cartons overflowing in the garage, all sold, given away or abandoned. A heart attack and dwindling funds brought me here two and a half years ago. Family ties, thin as they are, keep me from moving anywhere away from here. I don't resent it. I've seen the world, jungles, deserts, cities that glittered under foreign skies. That hunger is sated. This is a different journey, one of stillness, of finding meaning in what remains. The nursing home is no idyll, no glossy promise of golden years. It's a place of routine, of quiet necessity. Mornings begin with carers, gentle, hurried women who tidy my bed, adjust pillows, offer a smile before moving on. Tea and toast settle as I sit by the window. The air carries the clean sting of antiseptic, mingling with the chatter of birds outside. There's peace in these moments, before the home stirs fully awake. The staff do their work well, though they're stretched thin. They check on us, ask after our aches, offer kind words that linger like a faint warmth. Activities fill the day, card games, a singalong. I join when I feel like it, which is less often than I might. The choice is mine, and that's enough. The front doors creak as relatives arrive, their faces a mix of cheer and strain. Some hide tears, we all pretend not to see. We don't speak of sadness here. It's a silent agreement, a way to keep the days bearable. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads The residents are a varied lot. Some are old, their bodies bent by years. Others are younger, broken by minds that betray them. A woman down the hall clutches a photograph, her son a rare visitor, his life too crowded for her. She speaks of him with no anger, only a flat resignation. A man, his eyes dim with addiction's toll, mutters of a sister who never calls. I listen, nod, share a story of my own. We understand each other here, bound by the shared weight of being left behind. This place is a mirror, reflecting a truth we'd rather not face. Families, once close, find it easier to place their own in these clean, quiet rooms. It's not cruelty, not always. Caring for the old, the broken, the lost-it, demands time, patience, a surrender most cannot afford. So they sign papers, appoint guardians and let the system take over. The nursing home becomes a vault, sealing away what disrupts the orderly march of life. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet I wonder if, in the quiet of their nights, those families feel the shadow of what they've set aside. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion I walk the corridors, dim and smelling of antiseptic and something less tangible – forgotten promises, perhaps. Residents sit, staring at walls or televisions that drone with voices no one heeds. Many wrestle with dementia, their thoughts scattering like ash. Others bear scars of choices or chance, their lives eroded to this point. A few, changed by illness or time, became strangers to those who loved them. To care for such people is hard, unglamorous work. Easier to let them fade into these walls. Yet there's life here too. I find it in small things: a book that holds my attention, sunlight warming my room, a laugh shared over a memory. The community binds us. We talk of old days, of children grown distant, of the world beyond these walls. There's comfort in that, a kind of strength. The local shops are my horizon now but I don't mind. I've seen enough of the world to know its pleasures are fleeting. Here I have my memories, these people, this quiet. The day stretches before me, simple and unhurried, the sun climbing higher, the air still fresh. There's no need to rush, no call to chase what's gone. This is my life now, pared to its bones, and it's enough. The light shifts on the wall, and I breathe it in. It's a good day. Better than most. Andrew McKean is a writer and a resident of an aged care facility in New South Wales, Australia
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Eir sues BT for £67m over Northern Ireland contract dispute
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