December 26, 2021
My father-in-law has said quite specifically that he doesn’t want to come over for Christmas dinner but my wife hates to think of him alone again after the death of her mother a little over a year ago. My son’s girlfriend has decided that she will eat with her mother rather than join us after […]
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December 19, 2021
Walking the dogs with my sister she is telling me about a novel called “Lockdown” which paints a significantly gloomier picture than the one Omicron is currently treating us to. “I really hate this time of year,” she says, echoing the lyrics of one of my favourite recent Christmas songs, “Home Alone Too,” by The […]
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December 12, 2021
My daughter is telling me about a post on social media where someone asks the question, “Which number do you open first on your advent calendar, 1 or 24?” After spitting my coffee all over the table she says that 9% of all respondents do indeed open their advent calendars in reverse order. In my […]
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December 5, 2021
My daughter is concerned that we may have found ourselves with another ambivalent dog. “I thought Vizslas were supposed to follow you into the bathroom.” Despite the fact that she does much of the care during the day the puppy is sometimes aloof to the point of rudeness, bypassing the welcoming of an incoming family […]
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November 28, 2021
Having spent the best part of four weeks carefully avoiding the right side of my mouth I am relieved to be sliding down into the horizontal of the dentist’s chair. It wasn’t always like this. As a child, I was terrified of the dentist or, more specifically, Mrs. Brown who, unlike her namesake from the […]
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