Monthly Archives: May 2007

I received a bank statement in the post this morning. Not an auspicious occasion these days, but this time it was different. Not only was there my one paltry page of misery, there was also someone else’s page of healthy, … Continue reading →

I’m all for encouraging computer literacy in children, as long as they spend most of their time climbing trees, throwing balls and generally annoying the neighbours. After all, it’s a techno-whizzy world, and they need to be able to take … Continue reading →

It’s nice to encourage creativity in your children, don’t you think? Especially when it seems their school life is increasingly bound by Literacy, Numeracy, Science and ICT. I was pleased then, to find a pleasingly thick book called Oodles of … Continue reading →

I’m caught in a chocolate trap, and it reminds me of being twenty-three and sleeping on the floor of a council flat rented by some friends of a friend in Brixton. It was summer, my hay fever was the worst … Continue reading →

Now that’s what I really call twisting the knife. He’s e-mailed me, after I thought we’d broken up. He’s just done it to taunt me, to tempt me with his flowery offers that are all too unavailable. Just read it. … Continue reading →

I haven’t really watched it all the way through since I was about 12. In those days, my friend and I used to make notes and give all the countries marks out of ten. We did the same for Miss … Continue reading →

You’d think watching The Sound of Music would be fairly uncontroversial. Nuns, kids, singing and… … well I suppose the Nazis are hard to explain, but Lonely Goatherd and So Long, Farewell are surely the stuff of childhood. Aren’t they? … Continue reading →

More tests today, so I was informed in between guitar and swimming. “We had spelling, and Mummy, guess what we had to spell.” “Antidisestablishmentarianism?” “What?” “Antidis..” “No-o. Map.” “Map?” “Yeah, map, stupid eh?” Then Hannah pipes up with, “I know … Continue reading →

Ben and I had a conversation after school yesterday, and it was a conversation started by him, not by me, so it’s worth noting. I think it was prompted by the fact that Hannah was out (at ballet, it being … Continue reading →

It’s not quite the same as:- “It’s Saturday so it must be Milan,” is it? On Friday I was trying to read my book while the children went up the wall – literally, they were at climbing club – and … Continue reading →