You may remember The Walk with Amal from last year, when an amazing 3.5-metre puppet travelled over 8,000km from July to November 2021. She made her way through over 70 cities, reaching 875,000 people in 12 countries to highlight the journey taken by refugee children across Europe. This year, its creator Good Chance Theatre is… Continue reading Ideas for August: Fly with Me kite flying festival
As we hit September, I have one child returning to school and one just about to start, meaning both boys will have moved on from those early years at home with me. With such a big adjustment looming for us all, I thought it was a good time to look back at this stage in… Continue reading Nan’s Diary: Starting school
In Nan’s era, it was assumed once you got married that you would give up work, have children and spend all your days on unpaid childcare and housework. Sounds like pandemic-era Britain! ‘Taking the children out every day, either in the morning or afternoon, didn’t leave much time during the day for washing, ironing and… Continue reading Nan’s Diary: Childcare
With everyone stuck at home, I’m enjoying the descriptions of domestic life in my Nan’s memoirs. She talks of many things in her daily life as she raised three boys under four. This excerpt is from the time when she was living in a flat within a large country house called Feldemore in Surrey, which… Continue reading Nan’s Diary: Life at Home
So during a time that many will look back on as one of the most defining of recent times, I thought I’d dig out some old diaries and see what was happening on this day then, to take my mind off things. The one full diary I ever wrote was in the year 1990 when… Continue reading Dear Diary: March 21st
If you’ve not heard of ‘Soft Adventure’, it’s the opportunity to experience memorable adventures without the hassle of pre-planning or the requirement for specific skills or training. It works well for families as the trips are suitable for a range of ages and incorporate creature comforts as well as activities that are less physically rigorous.… Continue reading Balloon amongst the stars in Arctic skies
We went for a lovely walk today – the weather was great, the kids didn’t moan a bit and we came home refreshed and happy. ONLY JOKING!!! This is what really happened: We arrived at the country park. I’d told Rich I believe you have to pay for parking. He said that wasn’t the case… Continue reading A circular walk around…’why the hell do we keep doing this to ourselves?’
I’m making sure I document the different ways in which Herbie mispronounces words so that I don’t forget how great a skill this is and how much it makes me smile. Currently, he very much enjoys typing out poems on Microscopic (Microsoft) Word and is a bit annoyed that he has a bazuka (veruca). He… Continue reading Pronunciation fascination
Herbie and I visited London just before Christmas to see the Marvellous and Mischievous: Literature’s Young Rebels exhibition at the British Library with my brother and his husband. It made me ponder just how tricky it is to teach our children to be rebellious yet respectful, to challenge authority yet understand boundaries and to stand… Continue reading Rebels with a cause
Did you know it’s Takeover Day at museums across the country today? No, neither did I until I stumbled across it a few weeks ago. It began in 2010 and since then 35,000 children and young people have taken part. It was established by Kids in Museums to get children more involved with heritage and… Continue reading Let’s take over the museum!
My Beautiful Diary of the Amazingly Mundane 