The Afterword

Tag: life

  • Just Passing It On

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    It wasn’t really my kindness, not in the way people usually mean it. Two years ago, a student from China arrived at our college.Shy, polite, still finding his feet — and his English.One Monday morning he came to see me, agitated and afraid.The story took time to piece together:he’d been caught in an online scam,forced…

  • Letter to Myself

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Dear Me at 70, I hope you’re still waking early,not out of duty, but because the morning offers something no other part of the day can—a soft kind of hushthat makes room for reflectionand lets you move gently into whatever comes next. I hope you still begin with the animals—their quiet reliance a steadying thing,a…

  • What Would I Change About Modern Society?

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Not everything that matters can be measured. Not generosity.Not endurance.Not the quiet resilience of a young man who studies through grief,or the kindness of a woman who smiles even when she misses her mother’s funeral. In my eight years as principal of a university college, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside students who arrived…

  • Conversations with a Restless Library

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    I don’t curate.I don’t pre-select.I don’t build productivity playlists. I just hit shuffle on my entire music library and wait to see what sort of mood it’s in. Some days, it’s a model colleague — thoughtful, supportive, gently nudging me into creative flow.Other days, it behaves like a caffeinated record-store assistant with a point to…

  • Dogs or Cats?

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    People ask it like it’s a personality test. As though the answer reveals whether you are loyal or aloof,needy or independent,playful or discerning.But maybe it’s not that black and white.Maybe it’s not even about pets. Maybe it’s about how we love. Do we want someone who runs to greet usevery time we walk through the…

  • Losing Track of Time—By Moving Through It

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    I’ve never been someone who loses track of time in stillness.Some people sit by the ocean and watch waves roll in like slow breath.They stare at the sky and say they’re thinking about nothing.I respect that. I admire it, even. But it is not me. Stillness makes me restless. I lose track of time when…

  • What gets better with age?

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Life. We had a big school reunion last year. I wasn’t sure what to expect—decades had passed—but it turned out to be surprisingly good. Familiar faces, stories retold, gaps filled in. A few of us met up again before Christmas. No agenda, just time to talk. One friend shared how he’d spent years teaching chess…

  • The Gift of Quiet Hours

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    I usually go to bed at 9.00pm. After a full day, I’m ready for it. There’s no fanfare—just a slow wind-down and sleep not far behind. And then I wake at 4.30am. No alarm, no urgency. Just the quiet sense that the day has begun. It feels like I’m the only one awake—until I start…

  • Morning Pages, Morning Peace

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    For me, writing is one of the most reliable sources of comfort. I don’t journal in the traditional sense—there’s no “dear diary” and no record of what I did the day before. Instead, I write about something that has caught my attention, or I respond to a prompt like this one. Some mornings, my mind…

  • What Excites Me Now

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    There was a time when excitement meant chasing new goals — building a career, learning new things, and taking opportunities as they came. I’m not someone who lives for travel, but whether for work, family, or leisure, we’ve ended up visiting every continent — including some very wild places. Antarctica earlier this year was a…

  • When Peace and Principle Collide

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    A reflection on ideological certainty and harmony I am known for being easy to get along with. And also, for being stubborn. It’s a combination that puzzles people. I don’t mind that. I’ve learned over time that harmony doesn’t come from sameness, and peace doesn’t come from everyone agreeing with me. I don’t need to…

  • A Medical Mystery (with All Original Parts)

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    When people start talking surgeries, medications, or hospital stays, I tend to sit quietly and wonder if I missed a rite of passage. I’m in my late 60s, and the only time I’ve been near a hospital bed was 20 years ago for an outpatient procedure. No overnight stay. No gown. No jelly cup. I…

  • A Day in the Life (With Minor Interruptions)

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    My days start early. I get up around 4:30am—sometimes earlier, sometimes later. I never set an alarm. It’s just when I wake up. I wasn’t always a morning person—in my 20s I was the opposite—but the older I get, the earlier I rise. The first thing I do is feed the animals. Both the dog…

  • A Royal Waste of Time: Why I Wish I Wasted More

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    This is an intriguing question: How do you waste the most time every day?Part of me wonders—do I waste enough? Marva Dawn wrote a book I’ve returned to often, titled A Royal Waste of Time. She suggests that much of our modern thinking—even in worship—gets caught up in outcomes and effectiveness. Did it connect? Did…

  • The Crush That Wasn’t

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    I was 17 and had just unlocked the holy trinity of teenage freedom: a driver’s license, a half-reliable car, and parents who happily filled the tank. Enter: her. Sixteen. Bright. Cheerful. Needed a lift home from youth group. Or outings. Or basically anywhere that I could feasibly drive without stalling. I had a crush. A…

  • What I Hold

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Every so often, I find myselfreaching for the map again,not the one with borders and rail lines,but the one folded somewhere in my chest—creased with names I’ve never spoken aloud,warmed by places I haven’t stood inbut already miss. I hold England like an heirloom—my grandmother in Leeds,the streets she might have walkedwith a loaf under…

  • Kindness, with a Key

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    For me, it would be my car — a 2006 Honda Accord.It’s coming up for its 20th birthday next year and has 250,000 km on the clock. I’m the third owner. I bought it from friends I know well — the kind of people who are fastidious with everything they own. I’d dropped in to…

  • A Piece of the Past

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    I was running a memoir writing course for a group of older adults, including my mother and father. As part of a writing exercise, we laid out a range of objects on a table—simple items intended to spark memories. Each participant was invited to choose one and use it as a prompt for free writing.…

  • A Reflection on Passion, People, and Quiet Convictions

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    A lot of my passions begin quietly, relationally, with a gentle nudge toward something or someone worth noticing. Over the years, I’ve come to realise that I’m passionate about a handful of things—though they don’t always shout their name. They don’t always dress up as “passion” the way the world defines it. But they endure.…

  • Using Your Time Off to Draw Near

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    “What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?” It’s a question that often pops up in interviews or icebreaker games—lighthearted, maybe even fun. But the more I sat with it, the more uncomfortable I felt. The premise behind the question assumes a world of excess. It normalises indulgence as necessity. Yet the vast majority of…