Thank you if you noticed some absence of dragonfly over the summer months and a total silence on the blog front – to those for whom this is breaking news, I see you. As the school holiday started, I was feeling burnt out and blogged out. Favourite Man suggested that I give myself a total…

You may have noticed the absence of a dragonfly blog last week; I would love you to think that I was on holiday, but in reality I was distracted by recycled cardboard boxes, a deluxe rental van and a new bijou storage unit. The demise of the stamp duty holiday at the end of June…

Listening to the radio on my way back from mum’s yesterday, I tune in to hear a researcher asking people to choose one object to remind them of the last 12 months. Unsurprisingly most people in the survey choose a face mask. I have time during my gridlock on the M5 to consider my options,…

Favourite Man (FM) has quite frankly been Grumpy Man (GM) about the much hyped recent ‘Friends’ reunion. You think after a couple of years that you know a person and then you discover that you do not know them at all when they confess to having never watched a single episode of ‘Friends’ and look…

After a half term trip to London, I consider a third change of career – or a third ‘pivot’ as those folks on social media would have us say. I am toying with the idea of becoming a mudlark- someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value. Stay with me on this; naturally I would…

Half term break and surely it is time for Dora the Explorer to be treated to a Bank Holiday car valet; she has been very, very patient and looks a little grubby. On Radio 4 I hear someone describing an app which will apparently count the number of bugs collected on Dora’s number plate during…

I touched a nerve with the blog last week for it seems that I was not the only one feeling some long-term Covid blues; the messages that followed were warm and heartening. It is hard to wallow under your duvet when by staying there you know that you will miss out on so much heart….

Funny old week in the world of teaching; students and teachers have all been in need of some additional TLC. Non-assessment assessments (‘call them what you like Miss, they are exams’) and lethargy about booking a ballgown or tan when the prom could get cancelled for the second year in a row, have made this…

I am tasked with preparing an on-line assembly for students to highlight the start of Mental Health Awareness week 2021, but find myself feeling quite hesitant about this. You may find this surprising , but I will try to explain why. As you know, I am an enthusiastic wellbeing advocate, encouraging people to take care…

I had the pleasure of taking my mother on a real shopping trip yesterday, and it was during this excursion that I realised our takeaways from ‘Life in the Age of Corona’ – a screenplay unlikely to make it to the small screen because no-one will want to see it – are very, very different….