A week ago, my daughter Francesca went for her first college interview. It was a momentous occasion, marking the transition to being an adult in forming, one with a razor-sharp focus on fulfilling he... Read More
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"I feel like a limp lettuce" I said to my friend. We were sharing our worries about our parents and the realisation that we are now firmly in the sandwich generation, taking on increa... Read More
Happy New Year to everyone. In November I started a new job. I had been at my previous company for nearly eleven years and to be truly honest, I had gotten comfortable. I liked the job, I... Read More
I turned 40 last year during Lockdown 2.0 (or maybe 3.0, I’ve lost count). Lockdown scuppered any lavish birthday party or mini break plans. Instead, it made me reflect on my life so far and co... Read More
I lived in London for 20 years, since I was 18 (the last 12 years in Balham/Streatham Hill) and moved back to my childhood town in East Herts 2 years ago.
The process of deciding to sell up and ... Read More
My parents grew up on the other side of the world in abject poverty, where domestic animals earned their keep. Hens lay eggs which were carefully shared between numerous household members. Pigs were ... Read More
So, it’s my first day back in the actual office in over 18 months. I have seen most of my team’s faces on Zooms throughout this time, met up with some in person outside of office an... Read More
Trigger warning: racism
My darling son,
Today you asked me to play cops and robbers. You wanted to be the criminal.
I could not do it.
It hurt too much because I saw George Floy... Read More
Like the gusts that are blowing away the autumn leaves, the winds of change are blowing for me. As I write I'm finishing up with my current law firm, and by the time you read this I'll ... Read More
My son started school in September 2020, and I have continued to work part time. I had considered using my new ‘spare time’ when he was at school to either do a course in gardening ... Read More
My mother-in-law was a stay at home mum for much of my husband’s childhood – a fact that we tried to explain to our six year old over the summer. He listened to our explanation, frowned a... Read More
By the time this blog is published, we will have moved house. “It’s a big adventure!” we tell the children, describing our new house. We are lucky to be moving about 10m... Read More
It was recently National Work-Life Week and like many employees around the UK, and indeed the world, I’m currently considering how to get the hybrid work-life balance right. It’s a hot to... Read More
One of the parts of me that I have missed since becoming a mum is not spending enough time doing things I love/have previously enjoyed doing. Before children, I used to participate in all manner of a... Read More
Last week I was privileged to be invited to a “What’s the T in LGBT+” event which aimed to “look to amplify the voices of the trans community and its allies so people learn fr... Read More
I lay crumpled in my seat, my head buried in my lap, blocking out all visual evidence of what had just taken place. However, my ears were open and what I could not see, I could hear. Unravelling myse... Read More
Twosecondsjustaminuteoneseconesec.
Unfortunately, my children believe this is a legitimate word. I am constantly distracted. With half an open ear, I tend to overuse this word– to show the... Read More
So once again it’s back to school time - that long summer holiday that filled us with a panic of “how do I arrange 7 weeks of childcare?” has flown by, tricking us with the grey ski... Read More
Yesterday, I finally peeled the summer spreadsheet off the wall, the blank physical absence a reminder of the new space in my life: that, at least for now, daytime timetabling is the responsibility o... Read More
Last April I secured a promotion, after a round of interviews where I had to face some tough competition. I was delighted as it was a new role that had been created to lead the design and implementat... Read More
I can’t lie - it’s not been a good few months. In edited highlights, our lockdown puppy was attacked by a salivating Alsatian that bit him so hard his leg bones snapped. Upsho... Read More
Last autumn, still raw with guilt for prioritising work over my children during lockdown, I vowed to take some additional time off with them this summer. To ensure there was no way that I could... Read More
It feels like the summer holiday has taken up more than its usual share of time and energy this year. In some ways that's good – it took very little time last year because we couldn&#... Read More
When I first heard my daughter, Commander-in-Chief Senior, utter "maybe later?" in response to my emphatic “no” as she reached for the doughnut, I knew that statement was not fr... Read More
When I returned to work after having my son in 2016, I found the process really stressful and upsetting. I had just over a year off work, and I had an amazing time on maternity leave. ... Read More
In my previous post, I looked forward to some nice routine surgery for a break from my work and my life. Unfortunately, my routine surgery became emergency surgery that knocked me out for six weeks. ... Read More
I am writing this on Monday evening, this being the last week that my daughter will spend in Reception. We have been amazed that she has managed a whole school year and bar a few days of self i... Read More
As I write this Boris has just announced that from 19th July masks, and all of the other COVID regulations that we’ve lived with for the best part of 18 months, are finished. I thought that thi... Read More
This pandemic has been raging on now for what feels like forever, but in reality, is a little short of a year and a half or so. During this time, we have followed the rules, stayed inside, stuck to w... Read More