My 10-year-old son came home from school today with this Ouija board. He made it himself during lunch break. My thought process went something like this: • That's so cool! I'm so proud! My kid's an original! • Love that his Ouija board has a space bar, some basic punctuation and a back button #ipadgenerationouija • Flashback to my own … [Read more...]
Weirdest nesting material ever?
I have a creative blackbird nesting in my garden. This week, I was hanging my washing on the line, when I heard something drop down inside the overgrown ivy and creepers that cover the whole of my side wall - it was a blackbird chick fledging the nest. Later, when the chick was gone, I looked into the ivy and found the nest. Woven into it was … [Read more...]
Goodbye Rik Mayall
I just heard the news about Rik Mayall and I'm so sad. When I was 10, I used to strut around the playground sticking two fingers up at people and snorting and calling them fascist and Thatcher and drawing anarchy signs on my homework diary because I wanted to be Rick from The Young Ones. I had no idea who Trotsky was but thanks to Rik Mayall, … [Read more...]
Filofax, I missed you
One of my current obsessions is watching Filofax tours. If you search 'Filofax' on YouTube, you'll find hundreds of videos of people talking through the contents of their Filofaxes. They're fascinating, and strangely comforting. Seeing how other people organise their lives, what they choose to record about their daily activities, the tools they … [Read more...]
My week in painkillers
I just had the worst week. The pain following my tooth extractions built every day till Thursday as the swelling got worse and my cheeks puffed out into full chipmunk mode. I had to write down in my diary all the painkillers I was taking so I didn't double up on different meds or overdose, and so I knew exactly when I could take the next … [Read more...]
Happy birthday Haruki Murakami, and the year so far…
Today is Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday. Happy birthday, sir. I discovered Murakami the same way I discovered Kafka - via MTV. There was an MTV spot called 'An A to Z of Japan', and the letter M was, 'Haruki Murakami, Japan's coolest writer', or something like that. I Googled him and read about his books, and the plots appealed to my love of the … [Read more...]
My Nan’s pumpkin pie recipe
My kids really got excited about carving pumpkins this year (you'll see from the photo that they went for a Minecraft theme). So I bought three, one of which was a real whopper. It meant we had a lot of pumpkin flesh to eat. Nearly 5 lbs of the stuff in fact. While looking for pumpkin pie recipes, I discovered that my mum still had my nan's … [Read more...]
Next year I will hibernate
Hedgehogs have the right idea. Just curl up in a warm pile of leaves somewhere and sleep till the daffodils are out. I should do the same thing, because every January is the same for me - a dearth of creative energy, and self-esteem hitting rock bottom. Like some reverse Midas-effect, it feels like everything I touch in this miserable month turns … [Read more...]