Have just been singing 10 year old daughter the Skye Boat song (one of the lullabies I have always sung her) and suddenly she pipes up with "Mama what are Buffaloes?" Confused I asked for a little more clarification. "You know, Buffalos stand by the shore". The lyric is actually: "Baffled, our foes stand by the shore, follow they will not dare." It relates to the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie from Scotland. But it makes me wonder how long she has imagined buffalos? I must r

This ran in The Daily Express Millennium Special edition. My (cropped) picture and article also. The letter arrived with the condolence cards during the days immediately following the death of my Grandmother M.I.L.Stephen from cancer whom I had been caring for 24/7 with help from my then husband Wanje (who was also working full-time at the time in a very physical job to cover our costs).There are other posts about our relationship here and our experiences living together in C

It is Roald Dahl dress up day at my daughter's school on Friday and so it is time to look out the Golden ticket that I cajoled her Papa into making the last time. Despite a youth filled with Drama classes and Theatre Studies (all of which I did fantastically well in the actual practical acting elements of) I somehow never watched Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands or any of his early movies that I can recall. Which is pretty incredible when you look up how many movies he has

Picture in article is not Hugh! #HughVyvyan #VictoriaQuinHarkin #VictoriaLuckie #Rugby #Saracens #AlexCabrini

I am not a huge fan of cake (I can't recall my last Birthday cake and did without one at my wedding in 2004). Kenyan friends who have tasted the orange and polenta (ugali) cake I used to bake frequently in Nairobi, or who know my former husband (who is quite well-known for his first question at any wedding being "Wapi keki"*) may not believe this, but it is true. It is rare these days that I get excited by cake. It is also an unfortunate truth that in the UK, and particularly

Pic used with kind permission of the MS Society. It was taken just after the MS Awards this summer (which is why I am the other side of the camera for a change and our hair looks half way smart!). Update: This picture is now part of a billboard ad for the MS Society which is in Edgware Road, and yesterday we went to see it. Thanks Francis for taking the time to meet us. #SimonRawles #MSSociety #VictoriaLuckie #VictoriaQuinHarkin #ShebaLuckie #AlexCabrini #MSSociety

Amended (on January 31st) version of original post (of Jan 9th) to fix some typos due to having been exhausted while initially writing it (after a 9 hour plus drive), apologies and let me know if you spot any more! I have been rushing between appointments for myself and my daughter who had a small accident on Monday and then a bad case of tonsillitis. We have also had intermittent power but on-going water issues at home so I have not been online much this week. However, in

Image copyright either myself, my mother or my Grandma. Screenshot from my Facebook page that I first posted in 2011, thanks for the reminder George. My father died on January 4th 2004. Amended as I thought it was the 4th today until my daughter pointed out it is in fact the 3rd and the 4th is tomorrow. #VictoriaQuinHarkin #VictoriaLuckie #MBQuinHarkin #MikeQuinHarkin #QuinHarkin #AlexCabrini #MyFather #DaddyLessons

image and content copyright Victoria Alexandra Cabrini Luckie It was on the 22nd December that I first noticed it had gone.For as long as I can remember this advert has been one of the landmarks that tell me I am in London. Over the years London has sprawled westwards but this advert remained, it's lights a blinking, twinkling, effervescent reminder of a bygone era and that you were now entering the bright lights of a big city. and that was why I often photographed it from in

Sharing a poem I wrote a while ago. Copyright. All rights reserved. Picture also mine. Butterscotch Mama am I black? Black is black I said, indicating A black thing And white is white I pointed to a paper Look at our skin I'm speckled egg You are butterscotch. #Poetry #VictoriaLuckie #VictoriaQuinHarkin #AlexCabrini #Racialidentity #Butterscotch

For those of you that missed it: I have always found certain music very healing and Boxing Day is not a great day for me. But this Boxing Day was different as the Great Tracy Chapman chose one of my questions to answer. Tha above is a screenshot of the question from a link on my facebook page. You can see the original link with her answer for yourself on the url below. I have been a fan of Tracy's music since in my teens I first heard Fast Car. I still buy her CDs. As those o

My Father's signet ring and a childhood discovery of an old, red stick of sealing wax in one of Granny's draws led to a fascination with sealing wax and the concept of seals. In my early twenties I capitalised on my juvenile martial arts experience took a job working shifts as a security guard for one of Woolworths main Distribution Centre at Dorcan just outside Swindon. One of our responsibilities was sitting in a hut and checking lorries into and out of the site, checki

My daughter gets up, says “hello”, slowly settles on the sofa, then she stretches out her legs, and looks at her feet, as if preoccupied. As she arcs her long legs around the computer on the cushion, breathing heavily. I watch as her face, still soft from sleep slowly wakes savouring this time. Unaware of what I will tell her about the news of innocent people shot in a Paris concert hall last night. Aware there will be questions and perhaps tears, as she struggles to compre

My daughter gets up, says “hello”, slowly settles on the sofa, then she stretches out her legs, and looks at her feet, as if preoccupied. As she arcs her long legs around the computer on the cushion, breathing heavily. I watch as her face, still soft from sleep slowly wakes savouring this time. She gets up, her boxer shorts with clouds and rainbows on them, a gift from a French friend, requests a cookie and determines that she will finish designing the tree topper for the sup

My lengthy comments on this article in Kenya's Standard Newspaper on How to deal with workplace bullying are below and and form practically an article on their own.. Original article: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ureport/article/2000180818/overcoming-bullies-at-work-place#comment-2337357855are My comments: Having encountered many bullies in the past I have learned a couple of things. Here is what I would have done differently in a couple of situations. 1) Never take

The above are just a few of many of my responses to Paul's posts on my Facebook wall. These included accusations that I did not care about abducted children (because I focussed on the statistics and other elements of a story that I had been covering for several years, I have been covering child soldiers far longer, and had at the time recently travelled to Northern Uganda to make a documentary on). He also hinted severally and inappropriately about several of my personal rela

​ #ElephantConservation #GPStracking #CombattingPoaching #Kenya #VictoriaQuinHarkin #VictoriaLuckie #AlexCabrini

Periodically I get a load of nonsense online about not having lived and worked in Kenya, not working legally, not being qualified as a journalist etc. This post is to counter some of that I will add a few more when I get time. #VictoriaLuckie #VictoriaQuinHarkin #AlexCabrini #MadMonkeyz #CityUniversity #NewsAfrica #ChildSoldiers #HagueAppealForPeaceConference #DailyNation #TheDailyExpress #IDGMedia #Informa #Kenya #Egypt #Uganda

Update 2 /11/15. I approached the Coca Cola company a couple of days ago (maybe the 30th October) via Twitter to ask their comments, and also if the video is genuine and whether in light of some of the evidence they would not consider returning to their iconic glass bottles. They sent me a link to a website to make my comments rather than a named individual and so I sent the comments, along with some questions, there. Apart from being targetted by a get rich scam the next d

I used to be a Database Manager for IDG Media (the World's largest IT publisher) in the mid 90's. I was a journalist and photojournalist working in Kenya and internationally from the mid-late '90s. I have an MA in International Journalism from London's City University and did my dissertation on reporting in Africa and the use of statistics. It was called "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics". I have been arguing this for many, many years and have screenshots of much of it. I p