Dog Days of Summer

Every year, without fail, come the end of summer I feel maudlin.  No more unstructured days together, shared jokes, and easiness in each other’s company. 

Harry Potter Studio Tours

We didn’t make any holiday plans this year because of the precarious job situation, and also because we’re nominally in the process of decorating the kids’ rooms – one of the most self-defeating tasks in the world with a two-year old about, in case you were wondering. 

Potty Training, Mark III

It is fair to say that potty-training is my least favourite part of babydom.  Give me sleepless nights any time, at least there is the charade of it being character-building and Dunkirk-spirit to get you through. 

Mind the Gap

I haven’t been in a very blogging kind of place recently.  My job’s ending, which seems to involve wall-to-wall conflicting deadlines. 
Added to that the summer holidays has the magical effect of both dropping my productivity down to zero and ensuring the house remains a cesspit (sometimes quite literally, as we are existing in the purgatory of potty training). 

Saying goodbye

Three years ago my father died and I wrote this.  Today it was possible to read it again.

A Harry Potter Party for Harry!

First things first. If you’re looking for tips on how to run a professional-ish Harry Potter party – of which I’ve seen some fairly jaw-dropping examples on the internet over the past few weeks – then this blog is probably not going to be your salvation.

Counting down to redundancy

I got my official redundancy letter yesterday.  After the obligatory half hour crying in the undergraduate toilets (they’ve got exams on, no-one uses them), I pulled myself together and started focusing my energies on WHAT THE HELL I’M GOING TO DO NEXT.  Since my rather broken and stupidly specialised career path has meant that there are now about 3 jobs in the UK that I could realistically do, this a task somewhat less satisfying than banging one’s head repeatedly against a brick wall for 6 hours. 

74 days later … reflecting on blogging

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the act of blogging.  The sociologist I was trained to be can’t help but reflect upon the meaning of what I’m doing, so as a blogger -if this is now what I’m calling myself - it seems dishonest not to give space to these thoughts.

A field trip and other Firsts

My eldest has made me inordinately proud this week.  She had her first field trip away from home.  Of course there have been the endless sleepovers, but it’s not really the same sending her to a friend’s house who texts you humorous updates, as being away with 90 other kids and not allowed to phone home.  Charlotte, being Charlotte, was not even mildly fazed at this prospect – I mean why would you be??  It’s freedom after all!

The Great British Watertable

I have just spent 2 hours washing the various paraphernalia associated with Katie’s water table.  This is very clearly one of the poorest uses of a spring afternoon ever.  If any person, anywhere in the world, was thinking of purchasing a water table for their toddler I would strongly advice against it.  It was bought in a sudden bout of guilt that Katie did not have enough age-appropriate toys.