Status Updates From Every Living Thing

I thought afresh that a nice cat washing his face by the hearth gave extra comfort to a room


I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.


They prayeth best that loveth best all things both great and small.

There have been times in my life when, confronted by black and hopeless circumstances, I have discovered in myself undreamed of resources of courage and resolution.


AS I CRAWLED INTO bed and put my arm around Helen it occurred to me, not for the first time, that there are few pleasures in this world to compare with snuggling up to a nice woman when you are half frozen.

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.

A farmer once told me one of the greatest luxuries of his life was to wake up early only to go back to sleep again.

I seem to have spent a good part of my life - probably too much – in just standing and staring.

The peace in the silence and emptiness of the moors filled me utterly.

I’m chuffed. The actor who plays Herriot in the new series, Nicholas Ralph, is doing the reading in his native Scottish accent, he does all the accents of the farmers and townsfolk in a smashing manner, we just helped a cow 🐄 with a very difficult birth indeed and I’ve had a brand new suit in high quality tweed gifted to me. I’ll have my pint 🍺 and it doesn’t get much better.

audiobook narrated by the actor who plays veterinarian James Herriot in the new television series

Herriot mostly gives us upbeat stories and only rarely the inevitable tragedy. This collection appears to begin with the latter and I was dreading it. But there was a brilliant turnaround and the first story leaves us with smiles all around 🥹