Dahlias can bugger off. And tulips, for that matter. After spending way too much time trying to copy garden influencers and create a “container garden”, I have decided – for my purposes at least, that this is a waste of sodding time. I spent too much on bulbs last autumn, Read more
At the start of September, Boy Seymour had an appointment at his new college. He had to show up, sign up and step up to his new role as sixth form student. Boy has been taking the whole thing in his stride – even though I know he is nervous Read more
I think it must be something to do with the age I am at but there seems to be significance in everything currently. Significance doesn’t mean good nor bad – it probably just means that I’m reading into things more. The point of this, the meaning of that, the past, Read more
At last! Hurrah! The government has seen sense and has today announced that social media will be banned for anyone under sixteen! This is monumentally fabulous. I spend a whole lot of time arguing with my children about their devices. When I think my offspring have been online too long, Read more
GCSEs are well underway and Boy Seymour is… loving life! Last night, in preparation for his Physics exam, he was “researching Michael Jackson” at 11.30pm. Coz that’s gonna help. With two weeks to go until his exams are over, my little boy is growing like a weed and that little Read more
I have always been “into gardening”. When I was fourteen I was employed to tend a neighbour’s beds, after I put a hand-written sign on our gate post touting my (very cheap) services. The neighbour seemed surprised that me – a lanky, awkward slip of a girl – got stuck Read more
I will always remember my mum taking me to buy school shoes. It was a very tricky recurring event in my life and I think the mental acrobatics that it caused in my brain at a young age has a lot to answer for. It may have been partly responsible Read more
… about thirty years ago, I received my very first Valentine’s Day card. I was a gawky, lanky, overly serious and extremely studious teenager, and the notion that someone might “fancy” me from afar was utterly incomprehensible. Yet there it was. A Valentine’s card, a real one, written in an Read more
Right now, as I gaze out of my window at the mess that is our front patio, I can totally understand why the Romans left Britain. Imagine the scene; it is January, Blue Monday no less, some time around 408 AD, and Gaius looks at Julius and says, … “What Read more
I vowed not to write about my kids but… The conundrum of Boy Seymour is a curious one. He is everything a teenaged chap should be and more: a doughnut devouring, untidy, loud, contrary, lanky, lovable, clumsy, antagonizing and often adorable young man. He fits the stereotype, but throws in Read more