Living Between the Lines
A wry look at family life
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Mummy-brain is a long term condition DJ!
I was listening to ‘Pop Masters’ on BBC Radio 2 this morning. This is not a competition I am ever likely to enter. Musical facts and dates are just not things I can reliably recall to order. My prowess at musical quizzes stops short of being able to name much more than the winner of ‘Eurovision’ in 1967 (Sandy Shaw) I was ten, I liked ‘Puppet on a String”. The DJ introduced the first contestant. “If I do badly, I think I can claim to have ‘Mummy-Brain’ even though my daughter is seven months old,” declared the latter. The DJ was sceptical, “Can one have ‘mummy-brain’ after the event? Isn’t…
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Steampunk Goggles (the mind boggles)
My research has just taken a new twist. A temporary twist I might add, hastened by a request from my late sister’s son. My lovely nephew, he with Asperger’s and a deep interest in Star Wars, Games Workshop and Re-enactment role play, stumped me this morning. Last week he requested a green cloak, a two-man army surplus pop-up tent a flash memory card and a foam hammer (the latter he is saving up for himself). All these items seemed easy to find and I could visualize them in my head. He has been craving a Classic Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor P71 for some time and his requests do not…
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A World Without…
I dreamt I had had my iPhone and purse stolen, two possessions integral to my daily life and needs. The dream was surreal, as most dreams are, in that I was stranded at Waterloo Station, without means to propel myself home again. As is the way with dreams, I soon found myself in a taxi worrying how I would pay the fare. This worry was compounded by the driver appearing to lose his way. I duly noted that there was no SatNav in the car and the driver relied on a walkie-talkie for communication with his base. It was all, most strange. Stranger still, when I eventually arrived home, (Taxi…
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Pandora’s Box
“Research is a waste of time – get on with the writing” ? I spotted the headline on the cover of ‘Writer’s Forum’. If you are like me, you will have read that line and bristled at the idea that all that precious research you have clocked up, might be classed as a waste of time. I read the article and of course, Jenny Colgan was not saying that all research is useless, rather, her argument was that we are all in danger of getting bogged down in the research at the expense of the writing at times. Never has this been more true than this week. In a…
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Tea with Charles Dickens
This week marks the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. Just about everyone knows the name, even if they may have never read his work. We were introduced to his books in school, and some of us retain a life long attachment to them. Who, when reading those books, has not shed a tear at the story of Little Dorrit or Oliver Twist or been at once saddened and enchanted by A Christmas Carol? Disney may have made A Christmas Carol, his own but the original story lives on. These gems, Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations – all are favourites of mine. There was of course, more to the man than just…
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With the best of intentions…
They say the way to Hell is paved with good intentions…so too is the way to a writer’s keyboard! This morning, I am determined to finish and publish the post I have earlier prepared. The morning begins in its now customary, crisp, cold, February way with temperatures way below freezing. The perfect weather for a bracing walk in the woods with the dogs, I think. This, I am sure, will set me up for the day’s writing I have promised myself all week. Things do indeed start well. We arrive early, before the main stream of dog walkers and after the really early birds. The temperatures allow one the luxury…
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The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award
It’s been a while since I received an award of any kind but what a lovely way to start the New Year! Thank you to Teresa Ashby who has passed this award to me though, I confess, I have never thought of myself as being irresistibly sweet. I have been told I have a sharp tongue at times (I call it wit) and perhaps that is why my blog describes itself as a wry look at life. It is an interesting thought, though, being irresistible. I suppose everyone is irresistible to someone or something, in some way. I was evidently irresistible to the young man with Down’s Syndrome who approached me…
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Hold the Front Page…or maybe not!
When I was a child, at primary school, we were always asked to write about our weekend on a Monday morning. Were you? The Blackboard had the day’s date and the word ‘News’ scrawled on it in thick, white chalk and both were heavily underlined lest we be left in any doubt. The book in which we wrote was, invariably, a yellow covered exercise book. The pen we wrote with, varied from year to year. Hence, first efforts were in the thick black charcoal pencils that our stubby fingers could grasp more easily, while later efforts were produced with fine nibbed fountain pens that tended to leak in one’s pencil…
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Christmas has gone and I remember…
I have to admit that I do love Christmas. I love the darker evenings leading up to it, when we are all snug indoors in front of a roaring log fire – a metaphorical fire at the moment – the extension that is now our living room, does not have a fireplace. The other two reception rooms do have fireplaces I might add. What a waste! How did we not remember this vital piece of Christmas equipment when drawing up the plans? I suspect it was due to the fact that the extension was originally to be a dining room – until my brother-in-law pointed out that it’d make a…
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Another Embarrassing Moment – repeat
First published on 7th July 2010, I thought you might enjoy re-reading this one. Those of you who know me, will also know that Beverly, the sister mentioned in this post, died on 25th November this year quite unexpectedly, from a massive stroke. This is not meant to be a tribute to her, it is merely a way of remembering the laughter we shared. After my post for World AIDS day, which I had pre-scheduled, I felt the need to lift the mood despite recent events. I thought I was Queen of the embarrassing moment. Let’s face it, I have had more than a few. There was the unforgettable time…
