family

Inadvertent wisdom – the same difference again

November 24, 2019 By Ellen 2 Comments

It was one of those half-hearted attempts to encourage wholesome activity in Boy Three. A pathetic plea to do something that doesn’t involve doing battle in cartoonish worlds, listening to shouty American YouTubers, or both. “Draw me a picture. Just, you know, how you feel, or something… “ and off he went. I’d forgotten the […]

So, how was your weekend? Wild

November 12, 2019 By Ellen Leave a Comment

EDIT: When I sat down to write this, I planned to bring it round to some inspiring conclusion about doing what you fancy rather than what looks flash, but I forgot about that bit. Sorry. There’s another tricky thing to negotiate in the office. Or at least it feels that way to me. It’s […]

Behold! The Christmas jumper is back

October 29, 2019 By Ellen 1 Comment

They are back. As well as all the usual seasonal unnecessariness, shops are currently flogging festive jumpers. You know the ones, they were almost mythical at first. Not ever seen on real people… in public. Colin Firth wore one but only as a device to show that the wearer was prepared to sacrifice style for […]

My day in numbers: counting to ten slowly

September 21, 2019 By Ellen 4 Comments

This is a post from 7 years ago! But I thought I’d republish it, just in case I was ever thinking that the past was always sunny and serene. Different numbers these days. Boy One’s 20th looming, Boy Two filling the fridge with dozens of jelly shots (don’t ask) and Boy Three’s new school shoes […]

Small screen drama – giving up TV

July 19, 2019 By Ellen 1 Comment

I don’t watch telly any longer. Not even Killing Eve, or Stranger Things or especially not Love Island. Let me explain. Time poor as I am, I turned to thinking about the things I use my precious minutes on. Obviously, there’s a chunk of time on teeth cleaning, showering, listening to the Archers and other […]