Mrs Benn

Definitely one of my Desert Island Discs. And an apt description of the feeling that creeps over one as late September approaches early Autumn; cooler nights make sleeping sounder, but breezy days and turning leaves presage the acceleration towards the year’s end. With Neil Peart I’m aware that “summer’s going fast, nights growing colder, children growing up, old friends growing older” and I too wish I could “slow it all down, like some pilgrim, who learns to transcend, learns to live as if each step was the end”. They say that on our deathbeds, our life unfurls before us; I have no idea what that feels like, and I cannot claim that I will be able to look back on my life without regrets; but as I rush towards the year end, and beyond it to my final destination, I hope I will be able to say that I lived with integrity, tried to be true to myself and to those I loved, and that I was at last able to accept myself for who I am – imperfect though I may be.