About 18 months ago, we decided to have another baby. This baby duly made his entrance into the world last August, a week late. I don't like putting my children's names online too much, which is rather silly, but let's just call him Squidgy, since it's turned into his nickname anyway. I could call him... Continue Reading →
Brainless ramblings of a dull mother
Somehow there is nothing more to say, now that family life has entirely claimed my mind. I was keen on writing my travel blog for a while, because at least the theme provides a ready-made stream of topics, and occasions, about which to write. But being a "full time mother" seems in my head to... Continue Reading →
Giving up
It is hard to believe in anything, particularly oneself, at the best of times. The more life progresses, the more it seems a succession of minor disappointments, which are a natural part of growing up and realising that I won't get to go on a bouncy castle every afternoon. Sometimes, it seems as if that... Continue Reading →
Why are only women supposed to compromise?
A former manager contacted me the other day. That happens fairly frequently, and flatteringly enough, the communication is usually an offer to come and work with them in whichever company they've recently joined. This time, I wrote back explaining that as I was on maternity leave, I would not be available until next year. Quite... Continue Reading →
Family travel roundup
I'm not sure travelling with small babies really counts as travelling. You don't lose yourself, breaking links with the everyday to go on a little daydream of difference; you're rather reminded how much babies like having their own familiar things around them, and how difficult they are when they don't. For Easter, we drove to... Continue Reading →
Dumb stuff sleep deprivation does
When I was a teenager, I quite regularly forgot things, or lost things around the place. One time, I left my bag on a bench in Stratford-on-Avon, because my friends suggested going to Mcdonalds's, which was so exciting I jumped up and left without thinking. A tramp shuffled off furtively shortly afterwards. It was so... Continue Reading →
A belated view of 2013’s films
Given it is the eve of the Oscars 2014, I'll have a look back at the film releases of 2013 (even if I watched almost none of the contenders), and a few small smatterings of what life was like at the time. January 2013: Jack Reacher. I watched this in the Lake District, on a... Continue Reading →
Useless days
Some days, I get to the end of the day, and realise that I could have achieved more, or at any rate destroyed less, by not getting out of bed at all. This is one of those days. You know you're off to a bad start when you have to write yourself a list of the... Continue Reading →
Boring reflections on motherhood
January is never a good time to reflect on life in general. It is therefore also a really bad time to reflect on life changes, like "becoming a mother". I'm not sure why I "become" something else, while my husband gets given a son. I am somehow changed, and he gets added to. Anyway. So... Continue Reading →
When you have everything, you have a lot to lose
Since I got married on Saturday, I suppose this blog has changed a little. It used to be about questions of life and death, and peripatetic pleasures along the way. Having ticked all the conventional life boxes (mortgage, kids, marriage), I feel a bit silly waxing lyrical about politics, philosophy or art. Surely someone so... Continue Reading →
The resting writer 