FOUR LITTLE SEYMOURS

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 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 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 Read more

I am definitely in my nostalgia era. I know I have said it before but I will say it again: anecdotes keep throwing themselves my way and reminding me of stuff I haven’t thought about for years. It’s weird – Read more

One of my favourite books as a kid was Burglar Bill, a Janet and Allan Ahlberg classic, with colourful, cosy illustrations and very likeable protagonists.The Ahlberg duo made me – an anxious child – less scared of burglars, and even Read more

Full disclosure: I hate the winter! I am a bit of a Grinch, nay a Scrooge, tbh*. But… I am trying to embrace it, and for a while there I was stoic: autumn leaves, golden colours, fresh air, bonfires… Nah. I Read more

  Jilly Cooper, woman of the moment, one of my favourite people and all round legend once wrote a book entitled “How to Stay Married”. I must confess, I have not read it. I thought, perhaps naively, that it might Read more

What are these kids doing? Yes, it has happened. I have got old. After years of clinging on to some notion that I may still be “with it”, I must admit defeat. Why? Social fu@#ing media of course. I understand Read more