As part of our recent move, we've had interactions with a number of service providers. As is now usually the case, we've been prompted to leave a review... Most of the reviews I've left have been good. The companies concerned and their employees all delivered a service somewhere along the spectrum of good to great,... Continue Reading →

I read an article which claimed those children who'd read a lot of fiction during their childhood tended to have 10 traits. Now, I usually take this type of thing with a big dollop of salt, but I was a prolific reader of fiction during childhood, and I do have all 10 traits - so... Continue Reading →

I suspect this question is asked with the intention of uncovering something akin to aspirational routine making. But there's nothing about my first hour which is anything other than just trying to keep it together, for I am very much not a morning person. Let me share with you the following story to demonstrate how... Continue Reading →

We know a guy and, over the years of knowing him and his girlfriend, I have taken to calling him a cocklodger. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means a man who moves in with a woman and doesn't contribute financially to the household pot (as I learned on the Mumsnet forum). His cocklodging... Continue Reading →

For those of you who are either not readers - or just not in a navel-gazing kind of way - I promise there won't be more than a couple of these a year. Is there a book you just couldn't finish?A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. On paper, this book was right up my street...... Continue Reading →