Sober on a Wednesday night I was in Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket with, among others, adults with animal heads, very overgrown scouts and my eldest son. It’s nearly Boy One’s 16th birthday and one of the things he wanted was to see the Welcome To Night Vale live show. And so we did. He rolled his […]
Talking about autism: an agenda for mirth
The number of children diagnosed with Aspergers or other autism spectrum disorders seems to be growing. A primary teacher friend told me she had two such kids in her class this year, but that one was about average. When Boy One was first noticed for his differences, it was still a scary prospect – no […]
Yes, and… let’s go to Edinburgh for the night
Edinburgh in August. Ugh! Crowds, idiots on unicycles and shouty antipodean jugglers. Why would you even bother? It’s a little bit like that if you’re trying to get somewhere around the centre of the city. Luckily for me, though, I don’t have to. It’s one of those viewpoints that speaks of world-weary got-the-t-shirt experience, rather […]
Tips for pain-free homework
Back to school, back to uniform and routine. Back to sitting at the kitchen table for hour after painful hour getting the homework done. There is likely to be begging, cajoling, patient explanations, stern instructions, negotiation, tears and pleading. That was the scene here for many, many school nights. One evening, exasperated by long division […]
