It was an extraordinary thing to be at all four BBC Prom concerts this opening September weekend of 2025 — from Friday through to Sunday evening — first to stand in London’s Royal Albert Hall with Jutta, immersed in sound on a truly monumental scale, and then to listen to those same concerts again later … Read more …
Just – February 2025 – came across this account written 10 years ago of how Jutta and I got together again in 2013, and the journey thereto.. Braynes reunited A contribution from Mark and Jutta Brayne to commemorations of the CCPE’s 30th anniversary. It’s well known, of course, that training in psychotherapy can have a … Read more …
A very (very) long break since our last post, so here’s just a glimpse of a big moment looming in our life, as Daisy2 our tandem prepares to be collected tomorrow, Monday July 11 2022, for delivery to Robin Thorn in Bridgwater to be, yes, electrified. I guess we’re feeling a bit like Bob Dylan … Read more …
In honour and memory of our inspirational, hugely talented – and complex – mother Audrey, her ashes now safely stored under our Sheringham stairs awaiting Lifeboat dispersal at sea next month, here’s posting a scanned and carefully edited copy of possibly the most influential book I have ever read, or had read to me. Conceived, … Read more …
To say that Russia and the ex-Soviet space is complicated (think war journalist Arkady Babchenko, whose back-from-the-dead story unfolded during our spring 2018 trip here) is something of an understatement. As we’ve travelled (not by bike this time), we’ve of course been aware and on occasion reminded of unpleasant undercurrents that remain, both Soviet and … Read more …
PA psychotherapy client asked me the other day, “Why, Mark, do you blog? What a strange thing to do.” It was a very appropriate challenge, and it made me think. And indeed, I thought so much that I’m changing the public visibility of this blog in a way that allows – for the time being … Read more …
One mustn’t take life too seriously. If this form of house extension appeals (and it’s a lot less painful than having a Conservatory built…) then Steve Hobbs is your man, at Cotswolds Shepherd’s Huts. Read more …
The last moments seen right of nervous good health back at the end of July… I’ve been waiting to post these thoughts for four months as my left arm and hand’s ulnar nerve has begun, at last, to heal from a very nasty uncharacteristically (honest) alcohol-related, zero miles-per-hour crash in Dublin at the end of … Read more …
Well, the blog has been quiet for quite a while, during which time I’ve rethought my plans to cycle around the world, and resolved to focus instead on the increasingly rewarding work of psychotherapy, supervision, trauma training and support – and just being in England and the glorious Cotswolds. Read more …
I had thought, very seriously, of heading round the world on a bicycle next year. I have rethought that thought – and won’t now be doing that. Indeed, for the time being, I’m putting this blog (with all the posts-that-haven’t-happened of the past few months) on ice, with a view to consolidating it perhaps with … Read more …