Much as I love my older children, I often wish they would leave home. I never imagined when they were under 12, that the same friends they had then would still be coming round for tea when they were in their 20s…. Read more →
There is a bit of a calamity going on, as to which school The Small Daughter will be attending when she reaches secondary level in September. She is the only one from her class who has had her school selected for her,… Read more →
I had a big birthday party at the weekend, jointly with my friend Mr P who is exactly one day older than me. Although it was a big party, it was not a big birthday, that is looming three years hence. I… Read more →
Having spent the best part of the last 10 years avoiding travelling by budget airline, I am now a huge fan of the Big Orange One. It is air travel as it should be with minimum fuss, making catching a plane as… Read more →
Forgive me if I’m covering old ground now, but I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that I have a phobia about getting on the Underground. All phobias are ridiculous anyway, but this is made even more so by the fact that… Read more →
I returned from the boiling hot Maldives to a pretty chilly Blighty – this was before the recent spate of unseasonably good weather – a broken boiler and the entire upstairs of Landlady Towers devoid of electricity. The broken toilet, which has… Read more →
Although to the untrained eye, I might appear to be on holiday most of the time, I am always working. For example, while waiting to board my flight to Dubai at Gatwick airport recently. I had 45 minutes to kill so I… Read more →
I’m very annoyed with the Arabic language. I’ve spent the past four months learning to write beautiful Arabic (albeit probably looking as if it’s been written by a five year old) with all the correct dots, dashes and squiggles in the right… Read more →
Two of my friends are off to Cuba tomorrow and I can’t help feeling envious. They are staying with my friends Yusi and Marta in Havana, then going down to Trinidad, where I have other friends. I’ve given them an envelope with… Read more →
During a moment of madness – no doubt helped along by several pints of Heineken – I mistakenly booked a flight to the Maldives, via Dubai, where I am stopping off to visit old friends. I say ‘mistakenly’, because I meant to… Read more →
