Lock-down with a toddler: Part 2

As the weeks of lock-down tick on I remain on the lookout for new activities to keep (me and) Florence entertained. I was so pleased that a few of the ideas from my last blog post, Lock-down with a Toddler, proved useful to some readers, and so grateful for all of the activities that were [...]

Lock-down with a toddler

A number of my mum-friends have been asking what Florence and I have been up to to keep ourselves busy while on lock-down and likewise I have been quizzing them for ideas. I wanted to share some of our activities here; many of these are taken from other mums and Google but hopefully they will [...]

On love, and loss, and London

This week I finally told my husband about the affair I’ve been having. It’s been going on for about ten years now; it started before we met and while I had thought it may lose its fiery passion over the years, the feelings have become deeper, more profound and harder to shake. I’ve been waking [...]

Life lessons from life drawing

The way I feel about going to life drawing is, I imagine, much the same as other people feel about going for a run. The class looms large over my day, like a cloudy mixture of duty and dread. Even once I’m there, I find it difficult, frustrating and exhausting.  And I’m bad. Not just [...]

‘Everything is copy’, Nora Ephron

I love to write. Not to be read especially, which may seem counterintuitive, but to shape words into neatly formed sentences; to mould sentences into paragraphs and run paragraphs into pages. To chop and edit and move and manipulate. To capture the world in lines, dots and spaces with the potential to evoke memories and [...]

The luxury of time

There was a time, not all that long ago, when it didn’t feel like everything was a rush. I could never claim to be a bastion of ‘slow living’, far from it. I was always busy and efficient and productive, but I also had the spaces in between to pause. I could loiter with a [...]

Mum guilt and other worries

When you spend a lot of time overthinking things you can find yourself getting into a bit of a muddle: and I’ve been thinking an awful lot lately. So often this blog has acted as a form of writing therapy, and yes, this is one of ‘those’ posts. It’s amazing how externalising your worries can [...]

A good advert for equal parenting?

This week I was pleased to hear that the TV advert for Philadelphia cheese, showing two dads forgetfully leaving their babies on a sushi conveyor belt while being distracted by food, has finally been axed. Every time I see this ad I find myself becoming more and more irritated by it, and it seems that [...]

The way of the Highly Haphazard Woman

In the week that I started back at work after a year of maternity leave and thus added to my life a new metaphorical ball to juggle, I enjoyed an article by author and New York Times writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner on how to thrive on a diet of stress and disarray. At a time where [...]

The Garden Chef: Recipes and Stories from Plant to Plate

There is something wonderfully indulgent about a Phaidon book. They are so elegantly designed, printed on a paper sympathetic to the subject and beautifully bound to complete the perfect package. ‘The Garden Chef’ is no exception to this rule. Printed on an uncoated stock to give it a rustic feel, with copper foil lettering on [...]