Tiring of the 80s playlist I'd felt enthusiastic about when putting it on "Twisted Sister" are the final straw and I switch to something called "Jazz in the background" which seems to fit the mood for a Saturday evening dinner. Daisy, the Labrador, sidles out of the kitchen and curls up next to … [Read more...] about Listening To Jazz
Relationships
The Orange
I'm making Cornetti, grating orange zest, and adding it to the dough. While I do so the children are arguing about which way up the forks and knives have to go in the dishwasher cutlery basket. My daughter says that the only reason she doesn't load the dishwasher is that my son complains that … [Read more...] about The Orange
Inside Out
We're watching "Inside Out", a Pixar animation about Riley, a young girl, and her unsettled emotions after a family move from her beloved Minnesota home to a new life in San Francisco. It sounds suspiciously like a busman's holiday and I'm not at all sure I'm going to get anything from … [Read more...] about Inside Out
We’re Lucky To Be Alive
It's New Year's Day and we're watching "Dunkirk" a film so full of dramatic trauma that, midway through, I have to go off to the toilet and look at the latest COVID figures on my phone for light relief. Often it's been hard to see the benefits of a year most people are happy to turn their back on … [Read more...] about We’re Lucky To Be Alive
After The Beginning, Before The End.
I'm walking the dog with my daughter realising it's muddier than we'd thought and talking Christmas puddings. "Why do you make two every year?" she asks "So that we have a spare" "For what? An unexpected Christmas?" I do it because my mother did it. Every year there is one pudding … [Read more...] about After The Beginning, Before The End.