All the things I do instead of writing…
Holidays are more delicate than one might imagine. On the face of it, you pick a destination, a hotel and some flights, on the basis that they fulfil one or more or the criteria you might have listed. I used to write lists of criteria for holidays in order to help me decide, but now... Continue Reading →
I had a call with Hong Kong yesterday morning. They had been rather chippy about someone in my team being "too direct", so I was making an effort with the niceties, wishing them a happy new year of the rooster. I have no idea about the Chinese zodiac, so I looked it up. There was... Continue Reading →
January is always somewhat downbeat. You start the first week of it thinking about all the plans you have, and looking at travel websites to firm up your holiday plans. Then you're entirely overwhelmed by stacks of work, and stacks of personal life admin that suddenly need doing overnight. This year was no exception in... Continue Reading →
We saw La La Land mainly out of curiosity about the hype. I can see why it was popular with the film industry, given it was basically Ziegfeld follies with a very slightly updated storyline about the price you pay for ambition. I wouldn't particularly rate it as a film, as it drags on for... Continue Reading →
We are sitting on the 6.53 train, slightly later than planned, on a Monday morning. It is forecast to rain all week. The world is hurtling towards mutual destruction. We don't spend enough time with the kids. We never have enough time to feel on top of our chores. My job is too hard. Boo... Continue Reading →
When I was looking after my kids at home (as opposed to paying someone else to look after them at home), I went to any and every event designed for children. Most days, I could find two things to do with them quite locally. The format of these are usually 90 minutes of "play" in... Continue Reading →
I have 22 minutes left to write a 2016 post. I am quite drunk and my father in law wants to do another quiz. So....errr....well it was geopolitically a complete fucking disaster, as everyone ever tells you. Personally though, it was fine really. Horrific variety of medical experts (to whom increasingly I think the epithet... Continue Reading →
We drove to see our 101 year old grandmother yesterday. It was quite a sad visit, as she is no longer as able to move around her house, and seems as if she suffers. She can't hear anything, so it isn't really possible to tell her all the things she wants to know, like how... Continue Reading →
I am 39 today. I always write my diary on my birthday, not that this is my diary. My actual diary contains even more boring diatribes about the various trivial frustrations of my life. Birthdays become a bit depressing past, say, 35. It's just a reminder that you've moved out of the "young" tickbox and... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago now Giles Coren's review of the Randolph appeared in The Times. It was accurately and amusingly bad, and intriguingly didn't even mention the only newsworthy event about The Randolph recently, namely the fire that broke out a few years ago. My memories of the Randolph are from occasional cream teas that... Continue Reading →
The resting writer 