Anyone else over 50 find it takes considerable effort to answer this one? A grinding of gears and a cranking look round at the two days of domesticity and idleness peppered by parental duties. “Pretty quiet. Nice, though,” does the job. I suppose no one is really that interested in anyone’s weekend until the answer […]
Things I’ve learned from completing an MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow
That’s it. My life is my own again. I’m an ordinary person rather than a mature student. Last week I handed in the final portfolio of my course and, rather than elation and a heady end-of-terminess, I felt a bit flat, slightly sad and, even, a little empty. It would be very tempting to dive […]
Things I learned from an all-inclusive holiday
You know that really annoying advert about ‘going mahoosive’ on an all-inclusive? Yeah. I went on one though I failed to discover what mahoosive is or how to do it, I did learn a few things. This year, Boys One and Two were off with their father leaving Boy Three, The Panther and I to […]
Things I learned from seeing Caitlin Moran
On the eve of the publication of her second novel, How To Be Famous, Caitlin Moran was in Edinburgh talking about sex. She also talked about lots of other things, but it was mostly sex – good sex, bad sex and solo sex (which doesn’t, I believe, have a bad version). Here’s what I learned […]
Things I’ve learned since spring sprung
Months and months of cold and damp (and snow too), then all of a sudden, there’s bird on the wing and grass riz. My favourite season because, just for a while, I can persuade myself that there’s going to be an endless period of wearing shorts and loafing about during long balmy evenings. Balmy, I said. […]