I thought of a book last week, as I sat in a waiting room with Mini Seymour. The book in question is Class, by Jilly Cooper, a satirical observation of the strange hierarchies that existed in society in Cooper’s heyday. What prompted this ponderation? Well, a lot of things. Firstly, Read more
This is not the end, it is not the beginning of the end…nor the end of the beginning, even! (Update – actually, it’s just the same old blog, but even more random!) Written on July 14, 2025 It is just another chapter – a new phase, in life. And with Read more
Written on July 29, 2025 The Cactus House may or may not have had dogs living here before. The odds are that it has. The original inhabitant – Mr Cactus himself, might have had a mutt or two – although his botanical travels probably made him less likely to want Read more
(Written on September 8, 2025) This Funny Little Bungalow, aka The Cactus House has been without a greenhouse for too long. I tell a lie – there are greenhouses here. Many of them. But they’re in pieces under the soil. Demolished many years ago when Mr “Cactus” Innes gave up Read more
It transpires that I can’t actually stop writing about The Four Little Seymours, after all. There have been complaints. And so, in the spirit of keeping everyone happy, I have come up with a different plan… The other page I started, I shall abandon. I may import the stories I Read more
Four Little Seymours. Every time I type that it feels less and less relevant. The biggest one is coming up for twenty one, and the smallest one is headed for teenagerdom. As much as I don’t want to admit it, they are no longer little. It is taking some adjustment, Read more
I introduced Boy Seymour to a TV favourite of mine from the 90s recently – the classic that is Game On. It’s genius, hilarious, nostalgic and brilliant. And also completely non-pc. Surely the 90s weren’t that long ago? Anyway, I needn’t worry about the out-dated references affecting my son, I Read more
I learned something about my Number Two daughter the other day, upon asking how her day had gone.Fine, she said.So far, so normal. Monosyllables are the way we roll. I got a baguette, she proffered.Nice, I said, secretly delighted about the number of syllables we were now sharing.Chicken tikka, she Read more
Recently, I have been craving a round table. We used to have a round table. It was in The Shed. It existed there through necessity, and meant that the whole family, plus occasional guests, could sit around it together, elbow to elbow at times, but at a table nevertheless. There Read more
Like so many people, I have always struggled with January. It is a bit shit, is it not? It is cold and muddy and miserable and there are not enough hours in the day. I recall a few weeks back a friend telling me that Blue Monday had passed. Read more