Category Archives: Life and romance

Face to a Name: the dementia care revolution unmasked

Posted on April 24, 2014 by fortewinks

One rainy January afternoon, I made my way West to meet up with a business colleague for a long overdue exchange of news. Over coffee in the congenial surroundings of Soho House, Jake Arnold Forster described his work with organisations … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Family, Friends, Health, Life and romance, Uncategorized | Tagged Age UK, alzheimers, Alzheimers Society, CareScape, COBIC, dementia, Face to a Name, Forte Medical, healthcare, healthcare campaign, hospital, Many Happy Returns, memory, My Life Software, patient, photographs, revolution, St Frances Hospice Berkhamsted, The Times, This is Me, Whose Shoes, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 2 Comments

A tale of clever women and country cottages.

Posted on February 24, 2014 by fortewinks

The charms of a weekend in the country have largely eluded me over thirty years as a Londoner, mainly because I feel safe in these smokey streets. So when invitations to go there began to arrive, I thought long and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Entertaining, Family, Feminism, Food and wine, Friends, Life and romance, London, PR, Shopping, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged Aldeburgh, Art, boyfriend, Camerons, Clever women, Cotswolds, country, countryside, education, Girlfriends, intellectual, Kate Moss, Oxfordshire, Ruby Wax, sassy, sculpture, Suffolk, wellies | 2 Comments

High five to fingers and thumbs (and a wink to the limbs as well)

Posted on January 28, 2014 by fortewinks

The ceramics came first. Last summer I happened upon a friendly neighbour who mentioned that her former-almost-daughter-in-law was involved in setting up an earthy new local venture. Former-Almost had apparently joined forces with like-minded artists to create a ceramics studio … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Family, Feminism, Friends, Health, Life and romance, London, Uncategorized | Tagged Barnaby Green, Ceramics, classes, Crowdfunding, London, Moss Pilates, piano, Pilates, Turning Earth | 5 Comments

Sicily and the art of slow

Posted on August 24, 2013 by fortewinks

Mr Smart, Head of Art is ultimately responsible. Chatting last term to Beautiful Boyfriend (mine, not his) he recommended as the starting point for our imminent vacanza, a swanky Palazzo apartment owned by a Countess he happens to know. Palermo … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Design and architecture, Food and wine, Friends, Health, Life and romance, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, Art, Barbie, beach, boyfriend, campofelice di roccella, Cappella Palatina, Cefalù, Christ Pantocrator, cooking, Food, fruit, holiday, love, markets, mosaic, Palermo, pasta, pesto, Prosecco, sea, Sicily, Smart, sun, wine | 2 Comments

The last week in April: 100 midwives and a 50th birthday

Posted on May 21, 2013 by fortewinks

My Birthday Cakes by Giorgia Maria Last month I fell in love. I fell in love with Midwives and with Edinburgh. The combination contrived a fitting warm-up act to my birthday celebrations. To be specific, that birthday celebration. Edinburgh is … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Family, Feminism, Friends, Life and romance, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged 3Thirty, 50th birthday, April, birth, Bollinger, cakes, Catching Babies, celebration, Comedy, dancing, David Eyre, drugs, female health, Forte Medical, Fringe, Giorgia McAllister, Graham Farnworth, Heart in the Womb, hygiene, Luis Forte, MaMa, Mothers to be, oestrogen, Paella, patisserie, Peezy msu, Roxburghe, Scotch, silversmith | 1 Comment

Carry On Construction: the modular home and merchant banker

Posted on March 28, 2013 by fortewinks

My PR consultancy closed its doors some time ago, so I was surprised and pleased to be approached last November by a trio of Gentlemen to whom I had been recommended for management and media services. Flattering indeed. The Gentlemen … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Design and architecture, Life and romance, PR, Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, Carry On, civil servant, construction, contracts, design, Financial services, investment, investor, lawyers, Merchant bank, modular building, payment, PR, Private bank, publicity, Reggie Perrin | Leave a comment

Butterflies … and a debut on the BBC

Posted on March 6, 2013 by fortewinks

“My name is Helen Grady, producer for Evan Davis on The Bottom Line. There’s a programme coming up on doing business with Government, for instance the NHS, and Evan thought of you.” About eighteen months ago, I attended a Bookshop … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Life and romance, London, Uncategorized | Tagged Atkins, Austin Williams, BBC, Bookshop Barnie, broadcast, cameras, Evan Davis, Forte Medical, Foyles, Future Cities, Giovanna Forte, Jim Eyre, Made in Britain, make-up, Millbank, Peezy, studio, The Bottom Line, Uwe Krueger, Victoria Gardens, Wilkinson Eyre | 1 Comment

For the love of a good man (or few)

Posted on December 30, 2012 by fortewinks

Men. Don’tcha love’em? I do. In fact, I very do. Why? Well, as my year-end blog housekeeping took me on a walk of posts passim, I noticed that I have mentioned the Beta Boys on a number of occasions. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Feminism, Friends, Life and romance, Uncategorized | Tagged Attention, attraction, attractive, Beta Boys, brain, brains, chemistry, Clavicle, collar bone, collarbone, Eric Morecambe, expressive, eyelids, friends, humour, men, Morecambe and Wise, New Year, nostrils, Physical attractiveness, sex, sexism, sexuality, sexy | Leave a comment

The holiday: Gozo far … and find unspoiled heaven

Posted on August 30, 2012 by fortewinks

Sunbather from ancient Gozo Excitement mounted as my long awaited, high-pamper-factor, sun-filled holiday hove into view, destination Gozo, a tiny island of the Maltese archipelago, which lies about 80km south of Sicily and 290km north of Africa. As yet unsullied … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertaining, Food and wine, Friends, Health, Life and romance, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged Food, friends, Gozo, Health, holiday, Malta, sun, Ta'Cenc, Ta'Mena, tan, wine, Xlendi | 1 Comment

Rumpelstiltskin, Fatsia and Flourishing Fuchsias

Posted on June 18, 2012 by fortewinks

Writing a story about a yard seems unprepossessing by any stretch of the imagination, but bear with me if you would. Because this is in fact a rather touching tale of how an Ugly Duckling Yard grew up to become … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Friends, Life and romance | Tagged Bergenia, Fatsia, garden, garden furniture, Gardens, hammock, London, London Brick, paving, planting, plants, Rumpelstiltskin, soil | 1 Comment