In the weeks since saying goodbye to mum, I feel both the loss of my parent and the loss of my ally in the adoption of random health and fitness advice – gobbets of information that we accepted without science or reason. Because we were both so accepting of novel and unsubstantiated wellbeing advice, I…
No words
I have blogged about my mother many times; I always confessed to her afterwards and she always seemed chuffed to hear that she had been my muse. Mum never asked to read the published content – preferring paper I guess – but occasionally would say, ‘no doubt you can use this story in a future…
Otherwise engaged
If I have one complaint about grown up ‘kids’, it is that they sometimes take their time providing me with a shameless excuse to giggle hysterically and leak happy mother tears simultaneously. Some may call their approach selfish but because my children are practically perfect in every way I defend them with the excuse that…
Flying backwards
I have just arrived at my chap’s cottage ‘in the shire’. It is a blistering hot day; it has been a long drive and this flying visit comes at the end of a long teaching term and a testing few days at the start of the school holiday. I am a tad grumpy, a tad…
Tour de force
Something weird has been going on with my algorithms; despite being a runner, I find myself incessantly nudged by ads and pop-ups about cycling. First I am insulted – I am age-aware but have no need to be niche-marketed by a company called ‘Granny Gear’ – then I find myself strangely intrigued to discover that…
Late to the party
For the first time ever I have been commissioned to write a follow up blog. Admittedly my patron was a little bit wobbly bob at the time she tasked me with this new project, but I distinctly heard her ask someone to take our photo for her ‘follow up birthday post’ ; far be it…
A victory dance
The week begins with the first Year 10 mock examination, and it is not long until I am called out to the girls’ toilets to extricate a student; she has stormed out of her Biology exam in a purple haze after twenty minutes of multiple guess, telling the invigilator to ‘go and do one’. Sadly…
Getting shirty
My A Level students seem intent on kicking me out of my literary crenellations, ignoring my shameless plugging of 18th and 19th Century classics and steering us towards a vortex of science fiction prose as a federation shuttlecraft from which to launch their coursework. Selfish. I blame the pandemic. A gothic castle or a cloistered…
Long term gains
Far be it for me to offer updates on my latest foray into the world of ultra-running, for last year I promised retirement once completing anything over 26.2 miles. (I achieved this ‘first’ last May – proving something to myself in the process and ruining a perfectly adequate body and running vest by falling over…
The Dragonfly Jar 