Hurrah for me – today I got my second child to technical adulthood. Boy Two turned 18. I’m a tremendous mother, only one more to go. This will undoubtedly be a memorable birthday because instead of the usual, ahem, first drink in a pub, he’s having a zoom party in his room. He did, however, […]
Coronavirus: What I have in common with an oyster
Any noise annoys an oyster and a noisy noise annoys an oyster most. The stress of this coronavirus business is getting to us all, apparently. Around the world, those of us not on the front line of this battle are left stumbling around at home not quite knowing what to do with ourselves. Our amygdala […]
Coronavirus: Calling time on an unhealthy relationship
This time of pandemic was always going to be educational but this week, I’ve been surprised by what I learned. I have come to understand that I have a very unhealthy relationship with time – mine and other people’s. In the same way that the smoking ban revealed just what other nasty odours lurked beneath […]
Coronavirus: What are we going to talk about today?
“Mum, you’ve said that four times already today.” “I have?” “Yes. You telling people that the quality of the chat is going to get pretty skinny pretty quickly.” That was back at the start of the Time We Couldn’t Believe Was Happening when even our astonishment was worth commenting on. How quickly we’ve got used […]
Coronavirus: Beware the free-time fallacy
Stay at home, they said. Save lives, they said. It’ll only be for a while, they said. Look on the bright side, they said. Think of all that time to do the things you’ve been putting off for years. Shakespeare, they said, wrote some good material while social distancing from bubonic plague, and as for […]