Car journeys have often been suggested as the ideal time to bring up awkward chats with teenagers. The lack of eye contact and escape opportunities, make it ripe for broaching difficult topics. Mothers-in-law on the other hand, seem to choose Sunday dinner as their opportunity to thrash out touchy subjects. Mrs B Senior’s latest preoccupation …
I met a middle-aged woman the other day who told me she loves the magic of Christmas. I looked at her in wide-eyed disbelief thinking she’s either yanking my chain or she’s the kind who takes the family to Disneyland. ‘It’s fabulous’ she said, ‘it’s like going to Disneyland’. I tried really hard not to …
Last week the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces were busy so I had to solve a crime against humanity without any help from them. The Schoolgirl is putting in more hours in school these days than many civil servants do in the office. She has a packed school timetable plus extra sport a few days …
Over the years I’ve sent in a few grand prize envelopes to Winning Streak. I’ve collected the required letters for whatever game they’ve been running, knowing I’d end up with a half dozen of one letter while waiting patiently for the one they’ve cunningly made rare to keep you buying tickets. However, I’ve never got …
Last Saturday morning, I found myself a slave to my sat nav as I navigated unfamiliar back roads. I was driving the schoolgirl to a hockey match in Bray. Google Maps was calculating and re-calculating my arrival time, as I didn’t keep up with the pace it expected of me. I was aware of the …
Mr B would never admit it, but I think his fantasy job would be kit manager for a premier league club. He’d be fantastic at it. To his mind, anything is possible when you have the right gear. Every August, he gets a noticeable spring in his step, when he goes through the kid’s sportswear …
Last week saw me sitting in a few waiting rooms. I didn’t make any appointments – on both occasions I was summonsed. Wednesday morning found me recalled to BreastCheck after a routine mammogram. The letter I got came with a leaflet asking that I try not to worry. That one in twenty women will be …
The schoolgirl has always been Mr B’s partner in crime on trips to the dump. She mentioned once that she enjoyed it, so now every time he’s going, she gets herself on the guest list. From an early age, she enjoyed being part of Mr B’s gardening clean ups. He would gather up piles of …
The January lockdown found me in need of a distraction project, and I hit on the idea of researching my family tree. This became a month-long conversation with every relation I could make contact with. It’s definitely a sign of getting older. I had no interest in any of this when I was surrounded by …
My father and I had our birthdays on each other’s half-birthday. We shared the twice annual game of steeling the others limelight, insisting our 6-month anniversary was the main celebration. When I was born, Dad was just 3 half-birthdays off his 50th birthday. He was also not far off retirement, having started working at 14 …
Ordinary Plenty 