March 21, 2021
I’ve taken a commission to write a series of blog posts for a mental-health organisation and I’m telling my daughter about it as we make tomato sauce for pasta. “What do they want you to write about?” “Issues at the intersection of work and mental health” “You struggle to find enough ideas to write your […]
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March 14, 2021
In a heated argument with her brother about the most appropriate distribution of an excellent batch of double chocolate muffins, my daughter pushes back until it becomes a bit too much, at which point she reluctantly retreats, tearful. She goes upstairs into the bathroom pursued shortly afterwards by her mother. Later in the week, I […]
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March 7, 2021
I’m buying tickets for a gig, clicking through the various screens like I used to do, in the before times. It feels surreal, the imagining of a crowded room, the floor sticky with spilled beer, and the smell of sweat and perfume. This past year I have learned not to expect anything, yet I am […]
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February 28, 2021
I arrive early for my vaccine appointment unable to escape the nagging belief that lateness will result in a refusal to put the long-awaited needle into my arm. I am led through the car park and around the back by a volunteer from The Rotary Club. The gardens have changed since I last visited, the […]
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February 21, 2021
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 my daughter […]
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