There's something about turning 25 that's bound to provoke a little reflection. Everything just seems a lot more grown up and 30 doesn't feel so far away anymore. Reaching 25 brings the reality that we'd be put in the 'overs' category on The X Factor (really Simon?), the loss of our young person's travel card (no!) and the realisation that fancying One Direction is actually a little bit wrong (oops).
Despite the huge increase in donor numbers, brought about because more families have been asked about donation, the underlying rate of families agreeing to donation in hospital has not changed and consent rates have not risen. If we are to save more lives, something I believe we can and must do, then we need to see a revolution in attitudes towards organ donation.
This weeks' protest outside the Irish Embassy in London over the death of Savita Halappanavar was a first for me. I've been to dozens of pro-choice protests before but this was the first time I've attended one with no sign whatsoever of a counter-protest. I guess it's hard to claim to be 'pro-life' when someone is actually dead.
Recently, I was listening to the story of Felix Baumgartner as I was getting ready to go to work. Baumgartner is an Austrian extreme athlete who was aiming to break the sound barrier in a supersonic skydive over New Mexico. He was planning to jump from a capsule floated 23 miles into the stratosphere by a huge helium balloon, and Chris Evans was getting very excited about it all.
First up I need to be clear. I am a tarot lover, I have been reading the cards since I was 13. At first for friends, but now I do so professionally. I love and praise the genuine guidance tarot can offer, they are like an objective best friend. From my perspective tarot can help you figure out what you already, deep down, know. A good genuine reading should compliment your intuition about your own life. A healthy reading does not offer answers or prediction so much as it offers clarity and perspective.
Our beloved 14 year old cocker spaniel Sammy who has lived for the past six months with senile dementia, blindness, a lack of bowel control and use of his legs, was put to sleep yesterday. With our dog we were allowed to choose when to end his life so that he could die with dignity and achieve a 'good death'. We were not allowed that option with my father.