I was in a meeting when my phone started vibrating and I saw the dreaded words "School Office" flash up. Any parent will recognise the palpable fear that rushes through your body when... Read More
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I might be tempting fate here, but I feel like we’ve hit a bit of a Family Sweet Spot. Maybe it’s the autumnal festivities. Maybe it’s the age of the boys. Maybe it’s the more... Read More
Introduction
As someone living with progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS), I've faced numerous challenges. But through it all, I've learned invaluable lessons, many of which I owe to my la... Read More
Colleague: “So where are you going on holiday?” Me: “Saudi Arabia”. The colleague laughs heartily, then re-arranges his face as he realises I’m serious and that this is ... Read More
The summer is officially over and we can send the kids back to their jailors for a few hours while we attempt to remember the password to our work laptops. And yet it's deathly quiet….too ... Read More
It’s no secret that I am fascinated by language. While at college, a wonderful Professor of Italian had spotted the quiet girl at the back of the class, with her head buried in a poetry book, a... Read More
Like many people with school age children we’ve just returned from our summer holiday. In the past we’ve always stayed in England and saved a break abroad for October half term but ... Read More
February half term loomed and only my son and I were free to go on holiday and I was too busy to book one. My son, however, enjoyed the agency of directing our family holiday.
... Read More
The worst thing any parent can do is compare their child to another. It is harming and hurtful. My parents used to compare my siblings and I to our first cousins when we were younger and ... Read More
“I don’t remember it ever raining in the summer when I was a child” I commented to a friend as we sat drinking coffee in hoodies and fluffy socks in what can only be described as a ... Read More
Meanwhile, like Dick Whittington in pursuit of better career opportunities and a more favourable tax regime, it looks like Mr D is moving to Saudi Arabia.
I should have known because Red m... Read More
We moved into our terraced house as a recently married couple. For a long time the sound of our feet on the floorboards echoed against the bare walls of sparsely furnished rooms.
14 years,... Read More
…are none you may say? I may have triggered a knee-jerk response into how childhoods were ‘so much better in our day’ and social media has led to low attention span, superficiality... Read More
My eldest daughter turns seven this month and I can’t lie its making me feel many things:
Old
Nostalgic
Excited
Apprehensive
She is beyond excited – she... Read More
I recently returned to work after 10 months’ of maternity leave and I’ll be honest, it’s been a tumultuous time. Whilst I was off my company merged with another so I left employed b... Read More
The last blog I wrote was about the summer holidays ( link ) and I am writing this in early December with chocolate advent calendars already started.
I am sure that like many of you juggling wor... Read More
Growing up as a child, the choral tones of "Holidays are coming" blasting through your home signified the start of the Christmas holidays and yuletide greetings. As a fully grown adult with... Read More
It’s been a busy few years. Actually, I feel like I have not drawn breath since forever, due to a number of things happening one after the other. It started with my mother-in-law’s death ... Read More
Much as I love to go to the theatre, the homework I like to oversee least is drama. First there's the painful line by line repetition, then the addition of exaggerated expression and finall... Read More
It’s that time of year when we book our group family ski holiday. I skied once aged 8 on a school trip, hated it, vowed never to do it again. As an adult in my ... Read More
One sunny afternoon the kids were helping me tidy up the house in anticipation of some friends coming round. They were in charge of deconstructing their floor is lava obstacle course in the garden an... Read More
It’s not the outburst I expected when I unpicked my friend’s four-year-old son from the wall. He knew play was over seeing me stride over after repeated cries to “get off the wall&r... Read More
It was when the dog ate my almond croissant that I seriously considered going on strike. This was the pastry version of the last straw.
The symbolism of my Saturday morning croissant ... Read More
It’s now the first week of September and by Tuesday we are all back at school and work, for until half term. Uniforms were dug out, PE kits found, shoes tried on - and that was just the a... Read More
School starts back next week, and what had appeared as a long road ahead two months ago, has in fact flown. Here in Ireland, the school term finishes even earlier than it did in London. Those school ... Read More
Daughter has lost her mojo. This time last year she was looking forward to starting college and immersing herself into her subjects of choice: art, graphic design and photography. Fast-forward to tod... Read More
It’s one of those watershed moments: our firstborn is starting secondary school in September, she’s just got a phone and she's starting to go out and about on her own. Keen to encoura... Read More
My dad would be walking me down the aisle. It wasn’t planned that way but the registrar suggested it and we went with it. I was prepped by the registrar whilst the guests waited on ... Read More
Life is not a fairy tale. I don’t wake up with a full face of makeup, beautifully flowing hair, and a waist the size of a thimble. My husband certainly doesn’t ride around on a fancy... Read More