So, while we’ve rented out our house during the Olympics, so a group of Chinese ad execs can enjoy sport at its highest level, we’ve had to be creative about our holidays. Read more
Archive for the ‘Daily activities’ Category
04.04.12
Just who is the Easter Bonnet parade for?
Not the people in the Bonnets, that’s for sure. My children used to come out shyly wearing their little hats Read more
23.03.12
Why the school timetable is our timetable
Heard from an old friend of mine the other day. She seems really happy, has a prestigious job, is partnered, lives in Manchester. Read more
16.11.11
The joy of Laura Ingalls Wilder
I’m not American. I don’t have (and have never had) long hair in plaits. Or a bonnet. I don’t live in the countryside. But something in me responds to this literature. I think the Little House on the Prairie is a complete masterpiece and this book is the pinnacle of the series. This is my old copy which I read again and again when I was nine. Now I’m reading a chapter each night to Honey, who is nine. Every evening, as she is tucked up in bed, we dive into the appalling winter suffered by Laura, Mary, Pa and Ma and the rest, which lasted from October to March and during which time they all nearly starved to death. Read more
13.11.11
Sometimes it’s all wonderful
We have been walking past the Premier Inn in Islington for the past nine months. Only it wasn’t a Premier Inn. It was a bombsite, then it was a carpark with a hand painted sign reading “Park here, £2 an hour, £5 Saturday’s”. Then it was a building site, around last February. Then the scaffolding arrived and the men in hard hats turned up. It’s on the route we go to school. Read more
22.10.11
I am an imperfect mother
I know, this is the picture. Devoted mother brings cake (alright, chocolate mousse thing) over to adoring child during birthday tea. Look! there’s even a glass of orange juice in the picture, showing how little I am resorting to the bottle. That’s the image we all like. This indeed is what happened last week. Sad to report however that a week post birthday I am shouting at the birthday girl and refusing to practise the piano with her, Read more
20.10.11
Dogs don’t like change
This is Disney. He is very excited because I have just been sent some lovely dog food from those nice people at Bob & Lush, the food ‘made for the dogs we love’. He’s thrilled! He’s already eaten a cod skin treat (yum) but he’s waiting for his dinner.
Instead of being his normal meal of dull old cheapo Sainsbury’s dry dog food, which retails at £1.50 a bag, and which he has eaten most days of his 5 year life, he is going to eat Bob & Lush wet dog food, Lamb with Carrots PLUS their dry ‘kibbles’, Duck with peas, on the side. Yay! No wonder he has those big doggy eyes fixated on his bowl, which my son Lucien is holding out of shot.
We give him the food. Read more
08.10.11
Grayson Perry at the British Museum
I took all four to the British Museum this afternoon. We’re getting quite into these afternoon weekend visits. Go after lunch, it doesn’t seem such an undertaking. Anyway we went to see the brilliant artist Grayson Perry, who I had the delight of interviewing yesterday. He was giving a lecture about drawing. “He’s an artist, and he’s also a transvestite” I said to the children, Read more
28.09.11
Repetition is the mother of all skills
My son learned this today at school. “You see?” I said triumphantly. “That’s it. That IS IT.” Boring I know but it sort of summarises my standpoint. Poor daughter no 2. We have done a booklet of the dreaded Kumon every single morning now for three weeks. But she’s getting quicker at it, and the sums are easier. And repetition is the key. Read more
26.09.11
He came too
Yes. Matt Smith. Life size. OK, he’s a bit wooden, or should I say cardboardish, but that is because he is MADE of cardboard. He was brought to Phoebe’s party on Saturday night and was immediately voted the Man of the Night. Well, he Read more
29.08.11
Rhino mode
This is me, kindly but armour plated, steering my offspring away from hay (aka Sky Kids) and towards the piano (out of vision in this picture but there nonetheless). Actually it’s a picture of a rhino + offspring at Whipsnade Zoo, but the analogy is there. With a week to go I have realised Read more
