Everywhere I look there are ghouls, zombies and pumpkin paraphernalia: the children are positively beside themselves with excitement. Dressing up is second only to eating sweets on their list of Things We Enjoy, which makes Halloween a veritable Mecca. There’s just one tiny problem. I hate it. I’m fairly ambivalent about the fancy dress element […]
Parenting
Egg-freezing 'perks': a step towards equality, or away from it?
Two of the world’s most influential companies, Apple and Facebook, plan to introduce an unusual perk to their female employees. Concerned about your declining fertility, while you pursue a career? No matter, because they’ll pay to freeze your eggs until you’re ready to use them. On the face of it, it’s a brilliant idea. Women […]
Holiday plans
We are going on holiday tonight*. The children, still of an age where a fortnight in Scotland is as exciting as a Caribbean cruise (if only), are apoplectic with excitement and keep emerging from their bedrooms to see if it’s time to leave yet. We’re heading to the Scottish island where Mr M spent his […]
There are no photos
Why didn’t I take more photographs? I had all the time in the world. I arrived at the hospital at eight every day: drifted between intensive care, the pumping room, and the canteen. I went home at four then came back after supper to sit in the dark between two incubators, against a backdrop of […]
Dear neighbours
Dear neighbours, You will no doubt have noticed a subtle change in the equilibrium of our street; a tiny shift in the usually peaceful environs in which you choose to live. I apologise. You might be wondering why you can no longer hear the bird-song, why the rustle of the trees doesn’t reach you, and why […]
Prom time
I have nothing against our friends across the pond, and have long-since accepted the Americanisation of language, fashion and food trends. But when it comes to the children, surely things have gone too far? Leaving secondary school used to be a fairly subdued affair. A half-day at school playing board games you’d brought in from […]