I first wrote this piece in September 2015 after a trip to Dundee to see ‘The Cheviot’. As I’m getting ready to head out to see the revival by the National Theatre of Scotland at Eden Court this evening, I thought it was worth wheeling this out again… I still laugh at the story at… Read more »
Posts By: Nicky Marr
That’s one (nearly) off the payroll.
Parenting is full of milestones – first tooth, first steps, first day at nursery, then first day at school. There are first sports days and hockey and football matches, first nativity plays and first school trips… and then before you know it, you start clocking up ‘lasts’ too – the last day at primary school,… Read more »
Diabetes = two extra bullets in the chamber
It is very rare that I am stuck for words, but on stage in Eden Court last Sunday evening, interviewing a film-maker about his experience of living with Type 1 diabetes, I was left at a loss. We were discussing the fact that we all take risks with our health – there can’t be many… Read more »
Big Interview: Mark Beaumont
The May issue of HIAL’s Connect has just hit the airport shelves… which means that if you missed your copy, you missed my ‘Big Interview’ with ‘Around-the-world-in-80-days’ cyclist Mark Beaumont. Here it is for perusal at your leisure. Don’t say I’m not good to you! From a home-schooled ‘Swallows and Amazon’ childhood on a smallholding… Read more »
Embracing the Slashie lifestyle!
It used to be so easy to tell people what I did – I was a lawyer. Now, as a freelance writer/magazine editor/broadcaster/event host/presentation skills trainer/PR and marketing adviser/coach, it takes a little longer to explain. Occasionally I say I’m a ‘media crofter’ but the mention of crofting occasionally raises an expectation that I also… Read more »
Climate Change activists – the new suffragettes?
A few weeks ago, I pondered how I might respond when a future, inquisitive grandchild sidles up to me, homework jotter in hand, and asks ‘Granny, what happened during Brexit?’ and confessed I will have no idea how to answer that child. Last week 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg posed that very same question,… Read more »
Reader, I married him…
Reader, 25 years ago today, I married him. And I can remember every tiny detail of our wedding. After a tiny wobble in the church vestry I walked up the aisle on my Dad’s arm to the sound of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’, and back down on Mr Marr’s arm to The Pet Shop Boys and ‘Go… Read more »
The lost art of being
Are you ever totally silent? Do you ever allow yourself to just do nothing? I’m sure, if I really put my mind to it, that I could find time in every day in which to just let my mind drift. But I worry that I’ve lost the art of just being. I can’t remember the… Read more »
The joyous smell of fresh paint…
At the opening of any new building the overwhelming smell is usually one of fresh paint. It fades in time, but at Inverness Creative Academy I expect the smell of new paint will linger, for decades perhaps. Just four years after the social enterprise Wasps (it stands for Workshop and Artists Studio Provision Scotland) acquired… Read more »
5-star experiences need 5-star staff.
I am just back from a week’s skiing in France. Not to rub it in, but the snow was fantastic, the sun shone, and we had a blast. There’s nothing like a week’s fresh air, exercise, cheese-heavy food and 10pm bed-times to recharge the batteries. One of the undeniable highlights of our holiday was the… Read more »