Sandra Harris Writes

COVID-19, FIVE YEARS ON. BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Was it really five years ago today that our government announced the closure of all schools for two weeks because a virus called COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, had travelled here from China? It was better to be safe than sorry, we were told, little knowing that the two weeks off school would turn into five and a half months and that those months in lockdown would turn out to be some of the strangest and most surreal and bizarre we’d ever experienced as a country.   I remember where I was when the school closures were announced. In a record shop, looking at CDs. I was convinced, I suppose, like many other people, that it would be a storm in a teacup and over before we knew it. Boy, was my face red. The school closure thing turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My son, still coming to terms with an autism diagnosis, wasn’t having an easy time of it in school and the break was a huge relief to both himself and myself....

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW, IS LOVE, SWEET LOVE... BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Well, another Valentine’s Day is here and yet another postman is laid up in bed, possibly for days if not weeks, after humping all my cards, flowers, boxes of chocolates and other tokens and tributes of love and esteem to my front door from the postal van. The poor fella. I must remember to write him a card and drop it round to his house later. If it’s anything like last year, however, I expect his distraught wife will come to the front door and cry buckets about how Harry- that’s his name, Harry- won’t be able to work for weeks with his ruined back thanks to my post-load and what are they supposed to live on and how do I live with myself knowing that my beauty, charm, intelligence and sex appeal has broken yet another poor postman who, after all, was only doing his job…? It can get very trying, being so charismatic and sexually irresistible all the time. It’s not like how you guys think it is. It’s really not...

  SELF-HELP BOOKS: HOW MUCH DO THEY REALLY HELP? BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Millions of self-help books have been sold since the dawn of publishing, and I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if most of the sales have been transacted since the recent COVID-19 pandemic, when it suddenly became vitally important that people be aware of and look after their mental health. The twin industries of ‘mindfulness’ and ‘self-care’ suddenly exploded and, now, here we are in 2024 and nearly every bookshop now has its own vast ‘MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT’ section. But do we really need all of these books in our lives? And how did we ever manage before them? Are they a load of old bollocks, or do they really work? As in, do they really help us to lead happier, more productive and fulfilling lives as happier, more confident people? I recently ‘self-helped’ by giving a big bag of self-help books away to charity. I had too many of the kind I just knew I would never read, books written by professors and scientists w...