Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

One family's mini firework display last night caused me five hours of distress and resulted in my dog being petrified and badly damaging her paws. Out walking Looby Loo at 8:30pm in our local park, sudden fireworks just a few metres away sent her running off at break-neck speed. I followed at a distance and searched the streets for her as rain set in and it began getting cold. After about an hour, it became clear I couldn't find her, despite the help of several locals and friends, as well as informing a passing police patrol. I turned to twitter and within minutes had been retweeted many times (it ended up being nearly 500 times). Although she wasn't spotted by anyone on twitter that get, a Facebook posting eventually got a sighting, as she finally found her way home just before 2am. An antibiotic jab, plus a plug-in to calm her down should help but Looby's poor saw paws are making even walking around the house difficult. We certainly won't be out for walks for seve...

One of my favourite people in Hitchin. Gary Crocker of The Top Pickle and Mr H's.

A very interesting evening yesterday with Ruby Wax. As part of Baldock's first Fireside Festival, Ms Wax gave the keynote talk. I was fortunate to go with a good friend who has understood the traumas my life has gone through in the last 11 1/2 months. As we drove to Baldock, I told her how I'd dealt with a flashback while driving last week. I'd basically practised mindfulness without realising it. My mind had taken me back to the moment of my car crash on 7 November last year. What I had done was simply observe that I was having a flashback and choose to continue driving as normal. What Ruby Wax was explaining to me was the benefit in living now and not living in the past. It's very similar to the book I was recommended to read by the inspirational Mr Mickey De Hara just before I went into hospital in the summer. 'The Power of Now' is a similar approach and reading it while recovering from my operation was definitely thought-provoking. Living now. The mome...

Blogging for The Best of Hitchin

Much of this week has been spent covering for a colleague while she suns herself in Croatia. It's not a job I would do permanently and this week has shown me very clearly what she experiences every day of every week. The client involved is undergoing radical change and my role was to help manage the creation of their internal communications materials to help employees understand the processes and decisions. It's been thoroughly enlightening, both in terms of doing a completely different job of managing rather than creating and also in dealing with people I am normally at arm's length from. Perhaps it's something we should all do more often - take Atticus Finch's advice in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Once in a while. Posted via my iPad