I'm just back from a few days in Spain with my family. I felt bad about flying, even though I haven't flown since I went to Portugal in 2015. I will try not to fly again for at least a year, maybe longer. I haven't signed up for the #flightfree2020 pledge but I am thinking … Continue reading Mid-September Notes
I originally wrote this post four years ago, the day before my oldest child took her first public exams. That same child is now in her second year at university and the second one is about to leave for university in September. I thought I'd share the post again as it's GCSE Results Day here … Continue reading The Day before GCSE Results Day
This Christmas has mostly been about recovering from minor arthroscopic surgery to correct a torn meniscus in my left knee. My stitches came out on 19 December and I had hoped to do a lot of writing because, coincidentally, my husband and two grown-up children have been visiting a close family friend in Australia for … Continue reading Christmas Retreat
I was about to tweet a happy tweet and post a happy post about my happy year, when our washing machine broke down and our boiler stopped working. It was eerily uncanny, as if the Fairy who stops you feeling too smug had flown into my house and sprinkled some of her glum magic over … Continue reading New Year’s Eve Musings
A flurry of exam results, celebrations, book-buying, bag-packing, car-loading, kisses and hugs, and our daughter, Kitty, is now settled into her university accommodation. Overnight, the average age of our household has gone up. The numbers of showers being taken and apples being eaten have gone down. There is less fruit tea being drunk and less … Continue reading Notes from a half-empty nest
My children's exams are over. For my son, a season of campouts and festivals has already begun. My daughter also has exciting, if slightly less grungy, plans. Four years worth of scrawled-on paper, deep piles of exercise books, text books, files, revision cards, notebooks, stationery, bottles of Rescue Remedy, school uniforms, pots of lunch money … Continue reading At the year’s halfway point
It's full on, double whammy, GCSE and A Level year in our house. For visitors who don't know, GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education) are the first public exams most young people sit after five years of secondary schooling in England and Wales (I think Scottish students sit exams called Standards). 'A' Levels (Advanced Levels) are … Continue reading Greetings from the middle of exam season
This week has mostly been about me being ill - not seriously ill, just an annoying cold with horrible flu-type symptoms; feverish, aching limbs, bad headache. Unfortunately I had to cancel our Poetry Society Stanza meeting at Trowbridge Town Hall and I was really sorry about that. I felt that I might be contagious so … Continue reading In which I entertain a charming visitor
Well, it's nearly the end of November and the daily blogging challenge, so it's nearly December and of course I still buy my children Advent Calendars. The chocolate thing is very new to me. I grew up in the 1960s and I was grateful just to open a window and see a donkey or a … Continue reading Advent Calendars: Weekly Photo Challenge
This week I've been aware of more sadness, worry, fear and dread. I've mostly been aware of this when I've been on the internet so I've tried not to be on the internet too much. Again, Summer Pierre has caught my mood well. I've been thinking about what to blog about and wondering if I should be … Continue reading Still here
