An announcement about the impending production of another Star Wars film in the UK sparked memories.

The seventh movie in the sci-fi series is due to start production next year and is scheduled for release in 2015. Star Wars creator George Lucas sold his production company to Disney last year Filming on previous Star Wars also took place in Britain at studios including Elstree, Shepperton and Leavesden. Although the next sites have not been announced, this is great news for fans and creative industries.

Here come the memories. In 1999, I landed a wonderful daytime job at Elstree Film Studios, working as a hostess in the catering section of various TV productions. At the time, business was booming. The catering premises extended into a large marquee at the front of the building. The George Lucas stage at the back of the lot still contained parts of the last Star Wars film. I enjoyed serving others, who treated me as an equal and a friend. The head of the wardrobe section for Hoobs, (a Jim Hansen children's television program of Muppets fame), showed me around their huge storeroom to inspect all the outfits.

My very professional co-worker named Jose, had a nighttime job as Head Waiter for a large hotel. He taught me how to serve properly at large award parties and meetings. As other staff was cut, we worked together at the studios for about five years during the dwindling years, when new film production slowed to a halt.

I took a separate holiday to visit my father in Melbourne, my mother in Adelaide and my daughter in Queensland. I knew I wouldn't see them again. All three have since died as well as my brother-in-law. On the bright side, my younger sisters are alive and well.

My husband's mother also died during this time. He worked as a private hire driver and ferried many stars home in his car. I thought I'd share his letter with you. He'd write nightly tomes when he arrived home late and I was asleep already. I've saved them all in a special file were I chronicle my life.

'Dearest wife,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such a wonderful wife: supportive, informative etc. but above all, a really true blue Stanley senior member. I really admire (but didn't mention it at the time, because of the grief) the way you took control at Mum's funeral. You were fantastic. Everyone noticed, especially me. Darling, in my life I rate you 100% and completely indispensible. We've gone through such bad times, but when I think about it all, how many couples in our age group have seen it, done it, experienced it! Not many. I really want you to be happy. You can never do wrong in my eyes. ...'

We'd married ten years before in our fifties and are now in our seventies. Not much has changed except we don't work so hard and we're together more.

And so, another Star Wars saga begins, leaving us behind. Life is change; you must bend like bamboo or snap in a sudden gust.

Listen to English birds as you read. The sound will ease your mind.

When the hectic rush of our daily lives presses in all around, go into the garden, pause and listen. The birdsong you hear can do a lot to soothe you.

Far too often noise takes away your concentration—loud television, people talking at the top of their voices and the sound of constant traffic. But audio experts say certain sounds make it easier to focus. They include birdsong, which stimulates the mind and relaxes the body.

Over thousands of years, people have learnt when the birds sing they are safe, but if they stop singing people need to worry. Birdsong is also nature's alarm clock. The dawn chorus signals the start of the day, which stimulates our mind and thoughts.

Many people believe birdsong can be of psychological benefit. Treasure has used birdsong to develop a free smartphone app called Study. It claims to be a productivity-boosting soundscape to listen to while you work. It can help focus, improve cognition and reduce tiredness. It's also designed to mask background noise that can disturb concentration, particularly conversation.

Well. I guess some people can't spare the time to take a moment outside to refresh themselves in reality. As a woman of leisure, I remember arriving home from the fiery kitchen at work and strolling into the back courtyard, away from traffic noises. English gardens attract the sound of wonderful birds—the surprising strength wrens calls, the blackbirds warbling song and the robin's night chorus.

Wrens are Britain’s most common breeding bird. Singing is most important at dawn, since this is when intruding males may attempt to steal territory. Defending males meet their challenger with song. If females like one contender in the vocal chorus, they may sneak off and seek extra-pair copulations.

The nightingale has probably the most celebrated song, with John Keats describing the bird pouring forth thy soul abroad in such an ecstasy! in his 1819 Ode to a Nightingale.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1798 poem The Nightingale reads: And hark! the Nightingale begins its song. "Most musical, most melancholy" bird!... so his song should make all Nature lovelier, and itself be loved like Nature!

William Wordsworth wrote the skylark's babbling song dost pour upon the world a flood of harmony in his 1805 verse To a Skylark.

I wrote this poem in my garden several years ago.

Birdsong works on our mind because it's made up of lots of random sounds. There is no repeating rhythm or pattern to focus on. There is no other sound that can achieve the same thing as birdsong on our brain. Make it part of the soundtrack to your day.

This day will never come again.

I rose this morning to a perfect day. Without reading about the latest happenings in the world, I sat in peace while drinking my cup of tea. The sun emitted just the right heat and light to welcome me. Full leaves like hands have replaced the tiny green buds on the tall trees outside the window. Best of all, flowers replace the tight buds on the patch of wild garlic beside the road. We've all woken after the long sleep of winter.

White bursts of magical froth signal spring in earnest. Allium ursinum, known as ramsons, buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek or bear's garlic, is a wild relative of chives native to Europe and Asia. A popular cure for the kidney stone and for purifying and strengthening the blood, wild garlic can be made into soup to ease a cold, cough and asthma. The herb is used extensively in trendy restaurants now days. And ... cough ... I've made reference to the herb as a natural antiseptic in the futuristic, fantasy adventures in my novels.

Sound penetrates. Rather than representing an ugly urban jungle, the swish of traffic as it speeds up or downhill represents the river of life passing by my door. The two-lane old Roman road could never overwhelm the peace in my little village. On my daily walk beside the row of cottages, I concentrate on the tall trees, which fill the sky and almost meet overhead. At the same time as the newly emerging leaves, the horse chestnut trees produce tall spikes of flowers like candles to decorate their boughs.

Sigh. One more look at the flowers.
Back to the happenings outside my paradise.

Last night, people sighted a meteor over the south west of England and Wales, big enough to be captured on film. Viewers say the phenomenon is a once in a lifetime event. The meteor was likely to have been debris from Halley's Comet. Bigger than a shooting star, it had a strange greenish tinge to it. This reminds me that I am like a grain of sand on a tiny planet—one of many other grains.

On the other side of the world, Bangladesh announced a shut down of 18 garment factories for safety reasons yesterday. However, the action is too late to save at least eight people. Police report a fire in a garment factory in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. It comes with the issue of industrial safety in Bangladesh under intense scrutiny following the collapse of an eight-storey building late last month. Officials have confirmed that at least 912 people had died in the disaster. I send them condolence.

In other news: Tens of thousands of students in Chile have resumed their protests for free education with marches in major cities. Also, there is no easy answer on the Syria crisis, but the US and Russia have committed to work together until the end of conflict in the country. Last of all, the bodies of three more soldiers killed in Afghanistan are being repatriated to the UK later.

Rather than worry about the happenings in the world, I prefer to concentrate on the paradise I see. Just for today.  ... Take some time for yourself.  Live the moment.  It will never come again.

The charity organization Save the Children found one million babies died each year on the day they enter the world, or two every minute, making the first day by far the riskiest day of a person's life in almost every country in the world. Hunger accounts for one third of child deaths.

These figures are shocking. Two newborns die every minute? Is this some mad way Mother Nature reduces human overpopulation to protect itself?

The risk of death for both mothers and babies remains the highest in developing nations. The world's toughest place to be a mother is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The charity says we can end child and maternal mortality in our generation by using tried and tested interventions to stop mothers and babies being lost from what should be simple preventable causes. Find the link to Save the Children here.

I like the sound of simple, preventable causes. Of course, the charity needs money to carry out its plans.

Mothers are at risk during pregnancy and birth too. The Mother's Index uses indicators of maternal health and under-five mortality, as well as women's education, income and political status.

With high teenage pregnancy and IVF pregnancy rates, the UK has a higher proportion of young and old mothers than much of Europe. Save the Children says another reason is poverty and inequality, as women with unemployed partners are six times more likely to die as a result of complications during pregnancy or childbirth.

The high teenage pregnancy is a contentious issue. Close to where I live, young woman plan their lives around their pregnancies. My husband used to drive a taxi and heard girls who were out for the evening at a club, talking about when to schedule their next pregnancy. The government supplies their own home and gives them money for each child. A woman need never do a thing but have a good time at pubs and parties as long as she produces a baby every now and then, to fund her lifestyle. These young women sit at coffee-houses and chat for hours with female friends in the same situation—something an old-age pensioner could never afford. Sigh. Step back and accept the laws of the land, which are in place to protect the children. Maybe they will change one day.

TOP 25 COUNTRIES

• 1 Finland
• 2 Sweden
• 3 Norway
• 4 Iceland
• 5 The Netherlands
• 6 Denmark
• 7 Spain
• 8 Belgium
• 9 Germany
• 10 Australia
• 11 Austria
• 12 Switzerland
• 13 Portugal
• 14 Slovenia
• 15 Singapore
• 16 France
• 17 Italy
• 18 New Zealand
• 19 Greece
• 20 Ireland
• 21 Estonia
• 22 Canada
• 23 United Kingdom
• 24 Czech Republic
• 25 Israel
• 30 USA

The survey found the US had by far the highest rate of first-day deaths among industrialized nations, more than twice the amount (11,300) of the entire EU (5,800).

This is another shock. The US & the UK are behind all these other countries in their quality of life for mothers and babies.

Three American women, have been rescued after ten years of abuse. At the time of capture, one girl was 16, another 14 and a third went missing in 2002 at 20 years of age. They were found in a house in the city of Cleveland.

A neighbor saw a woman behind the front door screaming for help. When he suggested she open the door, she told him it was locked. He kicked the bottom of the cheap, flimsy aluminum door open and took the woman and her child to safety, where she told him about the other women inside the house.

In a frantic call to police, which was released to the news media, she identified her captor as Ariel Castro. She said she had escaped after he had left the house.

One of the girl's mothers died in 2006, three years after she went missing. How sad that she never knew her daughter was alive. It was assumed the girls were dead, and the mother of another victim said she believed her daughter had been sold into slavery.

The three suspect Hispanic brothers under arrest are aged 50, 52 and 54. The investigation will be ongoing to answer questions about this case. No punishment for their crimes can ever wipe away their wicked behavior. I suspect they will go to a special place in hell when their life is over.

And the girls? They are being kept in hospital for further investigation. The women were able to speak to hospital staff but they declined to give further details.

Although much is still not yet known about the circumstances, it recalled memories of a series of recent high-profile child abduction cases.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when she was dragged into a car as she walked to a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, California in 1991. She was discovered in August 2009, having spent 18 years held captive in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido in Antioch, some 170 miles from South Lake Tahoe. She had two children.

In Austria, Natascha Kampusch was abducted on her way to school at the age of 10. She was held for eight years by Wolfgang Priklopil in the windowless basement of a house in a quiet suburb of Vienna. She managed to escape in 2006 while Priklopil was making a phone call. He committed suicide hours after she had fled.

Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from the bedroom of her Utah home in June 2002 and repeatedly raped during nine months of captivity. She was rescued in March 2003 less than 20 miles from her home. Her abductor, Brian David Mitchell, was jailed for life in 2011.

It's hard to imagine how these girls felt after their capture. At first, they would have been desperately unhappy and trying everything they could think of to escape. Perhaps they gradually became accustomed to their treatment, rather than sink into madness. But, after the joy of their release dies down, will they ever live a normal life?

Be aware of where your children are at all times. One of the girls' last calls to her mother mentioned getting a lift home from a fast-food takeaway. It's been forty years since my own children were teenagers. I don't know how I'd cope.

'Irish Washerwoman'. I suggest you click on this Irish dance music to listen to the rousing jig while you read.

A city of peace and culture, Derry now rests after its troubled past. The pubs have long enjoyed a reputation both as a mecca for pop and rock music and as the perfect venue for that other favorite local obsession, the long, languid chat over a pint of stout.

However on Sunday, a woman was arrested in Londonderry, N. Ireland, in connection with an attack using a petrol bomb. She's accused of attempted murder after two youths broke a window and threw the petrol bomb at him. The man sustained 40% burns to his body and has undergone two operations.

I can't imagine what could have induced such a cruel attack. With no warning, the man could not defend himself. The pain must have been excruciating.

Londonderry has a long history of sectarian tension and violence. The Troubles, a period between Catholics and Protestants, lasted from 1963 - 1985. The people called for the end to seven injustices, ranging from council house allocations to the weighted voting system. Amid outpourings of unionist anger over the years many people have been killed in civil unrest.

Maybe the use of violence has imprinted on some people's minds as a way to settle disputes.

Derry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland. According to Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2013, Derry/Londonderry is one of the best cities to visit in the world behind San Francisco, Amsterdam and Hyderabad.  Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall contributed to the book, and says ‘Best in Travel is all about identifying destinations which offer the traveller something special. Derry is a brilliant example of a city that has bounced back from difficult times. This is a city with heart, which shines through in its exciting arts and music scene.’ The book will be released in October.

Top 10 Cities

        1.  San Francisco, USA

        2. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

        3. Hyderabad, India

        4. Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland

        5. Beijing, China

        6. Christchurch, New Zealand

        7. Hobart, Australia

        8. Montreal, Canada

        9. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

        10. Puerto Iguazú, Argentina

What do we value most in another person? I'd say generosity of spirit. When I read a story about a mother sacrificing herself to save her child in a flood, or rescuers placing themselves in danger to save people trapped under collapsed rubble, it brings a lump to my throat.

Today was my Mother's birthday. Since her passing, my appreciation swells for her generous acts. Right throughout my life, she gave me thoughtful gifts and never stopped loving me, even when I didn't deserve her devotion. She died on the other side of the world to me, back in Australia. Yet, whatever the distance, love flows freely.

Today's news tells about residents of an East Sussex village, who have heard their church clock chime for the first time in nearly 50 years as they went about their daily lives. The chime was never fixed although they repaired clock in the late 1960's. To commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the sound has been restored, and an automated winding system has been installed so nobody needs to climb into the tower each day. This shows you should never give up on redeeming something that has lost value.

But rather than physical value, I want to concentrate on an attitude which I prize most highly in another human being.

'Generosity begins at the level of the soul, which never runs out of the two things totally necessary to life: energy and awareness. When you feel secure that you as a person won’t run short of those two things, you can afford to be generous in spirit. That is a greater gift to the world than money. The two don’t preclude each other. Once you are generous of spirit, giving on any level becomes natural and easy.

In practical terms, generosity of spirit comes down to the following things:

Offering yourself first. Here yourself means the real you. Flow from the inside out is what generosity of spirit is all about. The real you is open and vulnerable. It feels sympathy with the human condition. It recognizes no divisions between one soul and another'. Read more here.

Yesterday, something wonderful happed. A parcel fell through my door. My husband brought the cardboard packet in to me with raised eyebrows. "I didn't order anything," I assured him. Deep inside, I knew what it I would find when I opened the seal—a copy of Golden Submarine, hot off the press. With no sender's name included, I knew who had made the gesture—my writing partner Edith Parzefall, who lives in Germany. Language and distance cause no barrier between us.

She didn't wait for the price to lower. She dived in and bought the novel, knowing I was struggling for money. Another token of her generous spirit. I'm still gazing at the cover of the paperback, which you can see at the right-hand side of the page. It's the third of our Higher Ground series about the future.

'After the great flood destroyed civilization, Cerridwen gains the unlikely support of a band of adventurers to her quest to lead Britland to a better future. As they row along the coast of Corn World to reach Long Doom and find a powerful ring, they face dangerous, mysterious, and bizarre adventures. Lured by the Gold Lord's treasure, Sasha endangers their lives and Britland's fate'.

There's nothing like the feel of a weighty paperback in your hands, or the knowledge of the generous spirit who gave the gift. It fills my heart with happiness.

Bad habits affect brain function as well as the heart. We all know the main contenders—smoking, drinking and wild, wild women. No, wait. That was the old adage from the days of Western movies. Anyway, why did wild women get a mention? Those poor guys living in the settler days of early America didn't have a lot of choice if they wanted female company.

Recent studies have shown that smoking, excess alcohol or food, and lack of deep sleep cause serious damage to the brain. See the link on studies here.
Poor sleeping in the elderly leads to dementia because everyone needs deep sleep to refresh the memory—like a 'save' function on a computer.

Next week, I'll do it then. No! Rather than delay giving up a habit of choice, people should do it now. The longer they leave it, the more damage they will do to their brain as well as their heart.

My top five tips for living a long and healthy life:

1.       Eat healthy food. This includes cutting down on meat, eating more vegetables and fruit, and sourcing them from close to hand where no insecticides are used.

2.       Exercise daily and sleep well. No matter what our handicap, we can exercise. I have followed a morning routine of face and back exercises from a sitting position. Every day, weather allowing, I push my rollator up and down the steep hill outside. I sleep well because I believe I've lived to the best of my ability and, as my former husband used to say, I have a clear conscience.

3.       Retain a positive attitude. Okay. I was lucky to be born with a bright outlook. But there is always a good and bad side of each problem we face in life. It's up to you to choose how you will approach it. I choose to ignore my pain and concentrate on writing.

4.       Keep busy doing what I enjoy. I've worked my way through so many pastimes while employed in a physical job. Sewing, spinning fleece, knitting, crochet, embroidery, writing poetry, composing songs, and finally, since retirement, novel writing.

5.       Believe my life matters. 'You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars'. Read the whole of the wonderful prose Desiderata here.

Have I convinced you to give up over-eating, smoking or excess drink? Your life is in your hands. The choice is yours. You have something important to do in this life. Discover your destiny. Live.

I'm saddened and disgusted by the number of television personalities who have been investigated and charged with crimes against children. To my mind, no punishment is severe enough for a pedophile, who preys on the innocence of children and leaves them with trauma which will last their whole life long.

Just the other day, a Coronation Street star was arrested for the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl in 1967. Writers for the soap have changed the proposed plot so it will not include him. I had respected this actor, with his gentle voice and speeches about love governing all. He led a spiritual group in the Pure Love movement. He'd written a book about asking the universe for what you wanted and it would beam back to you. The controversial actor said the stars arrested in the wake of a pedophile scandal had been pilloried. Earlier, he'd claimed to have slept with 1,000 women.

There have been many cases where a convicted man has been released after their court case was overturned. Although nobody is guilty until proven so, from now on, I'll step back from admiring any public figure. It seems their status has gone to their head and they think they can do whatever they like.

What sort of memories do these men harbor?

Lately, I've heard people refer to our memories as snippets which form our lives. No doubt, people who lose their memory from accident or from dementia sever a connection to their past and can't respond in an appropriate way to those who love them. Yet, underneath, they are the same person.

There must be more of us than our memories. As babies, our parents or carers taught us how to behave, instilled values and gave us a place in life. However, each child is born with their own personality. Siblings raised exactly the same way, behave differently to certain situations. One child may be loving and agreeable, while another will have a tantrum when faced with change. Therefore, we are born with our own traits, which I believe comes from previous lives.

How else could you explain a child prodigy? I'd love to hear your reasoning.

I've often wondered how a hardened criminal would behave without a memory—or even a pedophile. With past behavior wiped out, would they still want to commit violent or sexual crimes? This is great subject matter for novels.

Early Jamestown settlers turned to cannibalism to survive. Would you do the same? Put yourself in the immigrant' position. You've arrived in a new land. The natives are attacking you so there's no way to go out and find food.

James Fort, founded in 1607, was the earliest part of the Jamestown colony. In the winter of 1609, known as the Starving Time, 300 English settlers waited for supplies. During one of the most horrific periods of early colonial history, the indigenous Indian population held the settlers under siege. With insufficient food to last the winter, they ate their horses, then dogs, cats, rats, mice and snakes. Some, to satisfy their cruel hunger, ate the leather of their shoes. Nothing was spared to maintain life.

Written documents had previously suggested the desperate colonists resorted to cannibalism, but the discovery of the 14-year-old girl's bones during excavation offers the first scientific proof. Definite scrape marks on the face showed the brain was removed by a shaking, inexpert hand. Further analysis indicates she'd eaten a well-nourished diet consistent with richer classes. Smithsonian researchers believe the dead child became food for a community struggling to survive.

The original inhabitants, the Indians, were defending their great land from invasion. That is understandable. We would all do the same right now. Around 14,000 native inhabitants known as the Paspahegh tribe, initially welcomed the colonists with dancing, feasting and tobacco ceremonies. The relationship soured after they had provided crucial provisions and support for the survival of the colonists, who were not agriculturally inclined.

When Lord De La Warr sailed into the Jamestown settlement with food and new colonists after six months of siege and starvation, only 60 of the original 300 settlers had survived. See the full BBC article here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22362831

The breakdown with the Indians led to the total annihilation of the Paspahegh in warfare within 3 years.

The immigrants are not accused of murder for food, but of taking advantage of the circumstances. Experts can't tell how many of the growing numbers of dead were cannibalized. But the girl would not have been the only target.

Faced with the same circumstances, I don't know how I'd cope. Only young, fit people would have braved the journey, so I wouldn't be there. Is survival important enough to eat the flesh of those you once loved? How could the survivors face God? And what of the karmic repercussions? Would that memory linger on through further lives?