Living Between the Lines
A wry look at family life
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Inci-dental Moments
If I was to give myself ‘lines’ to write this week, they would be: I must pay attention. I must not day-dream. I will do better. Now, that is an affirmation of sorts isn’t it? So, you may well ask, what brings on this need to self-scold? Well, we all do things that embarrass us from time to time don’t we? I know I do and quite honestly, if I paid more attention I could save my blushes. E.g. Earlier this month: I left the driver’s door wide open while I took elderly mother-in-law and toddler grandson into Sainsbury’s supermarket. I didn’t know I had done this of course. Even…
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Fitting out, Sailors, Tea Ladies and Euphamisms
A Bank holiday weekend, in gorgeous Fowey, was full of surprises. We arrived expecting rain but were met with blue skies and sunshine. It may not have been the weather for lazing on the beach but it was pleasant and warm in sheltered parts. We had arrived towards evening and my husband had booked a meal at the local sailing club for our party of three. He had also issued an invitation to a friend who was delighted to accept. Thus, we wandered down at the appointed time. Our friend, who lives in Fowey, was already there. “Did you know it was a Fitting Out dinner?” she asked us with…
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Losing the plot
I have been writing a synopsis of my latest novel. This exercise, undertaken only once the novel had reached a stalemate, has been strategically planned to enable me to see what the heck is going on. This novel was started under the banner of NaNoWriMNo. It grew to well over 50,000 words in 30 days. It spoke, it breathed, it fairly flew off my fingers and onto the screen as I typed. It made sense, well, no, actually it didn’t make all that much sense but it had lots of hooks and notes in the margins and helpful inserts/guides for me to follow when, released from the pressure of that…
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Your child is cute but there is no need to tell me…
There is often much said in the media about those pushy mothers who will stop at nothing to see their little darling shine on screen or stage which immediately makes me think of Noel Coward’s lyrics, “Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington.” Of course, pushy mothers are in no way restricted to the performing arts. They appear in every walk of life and will often stop at nothing to further their children’s careers and prospects. Just where pride and support stops and pushiness creeps in is a moot point. Pushy mothers are one thing. They may be caricatured and held up to ridicule but many a child…
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So, what are you doing these days?
“So, what are you doing these days?” Don’t you hate that question? Doesn’t it throw you? It is fine if you have just come back from exploring the Antarctic or something similar. A few stories from your adventures and you’re done. (I have never explored the Antarctic I hasten to add.) Otherwise, unless you are talking to your mother or a close family member, you probably have about ten seconds to grab your interrogator’s interest or at least, to let them know you are not a total waste of space. It happened to me the other day. “Ladies who lunch” had invited me to join them. In the past, this…
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Sweeping away the Cobwebs
‘tis a wonderous thing, writing. I am now, perhaps, three fifths of the way towards the completion of my latest novel. This is the novel written entirely in November under the strict, “no edit” instructions of NaNoWriMo. December arrived in a flurry of festivities, the New Year with more of the same (including the unfortunate incident with the sausage). There was barely time to sit back and ponder the niceties of sentence structure or plot continuity and no time at all to contemplate denouement. So, with unfinished chapters and unanswered questions, ringing in my ears, I put the novel to one side and concentrated on family and friends. A break…
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Sausages, Santa and Royal Connections
We have had a variety of invitations over the Christmas and New Year period. There were the usual pre-Christmas parties to start of course, plus the annual get together of the Barker family in Essex and the birthday celebrations of eldest daughter, just a few days before Christmas—because it took the birth of two children in the month of December to happen before her parents realized things could and should be planned a little better. A workplace Secret Santa was postponed until the New Year, hence we managed to extend our festivities until twelfth night. Meantime, we had a wedding to go to, the New Year to see in and…
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…and a stale cake for the pantry
The festive season has arrived and for once, I appear to be ahead of myself. I have presents bought and wrapped, well maybe not all wrapped but more than usual! I have scoured online shops and braved the madding crowds in town. My Christmas cards have been written and if I remember to buy the stamps, they will actually be posted early for a change. My mother is not a big fan of online shopping although we do go through a painstaking task each week of preparing her grocery list which I then order and have sent to her through Sainsbury’s website. Over the last year, we have had some…
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Winning words
“I am a winner!” Yes, I went to 50,000 words and beyond in November. I surprised myself with my appreciation of this challenge. Hitherto I had heard about it from others but not felt the inclination to enter into its spirit. Now I feel I could do this every month, well, maybe every other month because I really do need some time to edit. I do not quite know the ending of this story – whose characters have taken me on twists and turns that I could never have imagined back on 1st November when I started writing it. I am sure it will reveal itself to me during the…
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Do houses have souls?
My mother was speaking to my daughter, Zoe, the other evening. The conversation began like this, Mother: “I haven’t seen Lesley since she fell through the ceiling,” Needless to say, there were then hysterics on both ends of the line as the enormity and the humour of what she’d said, sank in. If you ever see a novel written by me beginning with those words, you will know to what it really relates. Yes, my eldest sister did actually fall right through the ceiling. Of course, one shouldn’t laugh, she is currently black and blue and in considerable pain but rather remarkably and thankfully, no bones were broken. I should…
