Why Grandma what big teeth you have A trip to the zoo suddenly seems like a major life event, which is why it wasn’t wholly surprising when two, over-excited children ran into the bedroom and asked if we were leaving.. at 05:30! Why, I asked myself, would I want to see more animals when I already live with two wild things? Our journey did not get off to the greatest of starts. No sooner had we left the house than…
As many of you know, I have a generalised anxiety disorder (or GAD for short, not to be confused with God, I have one of those too but that’s for later on). GAD is always with me; he is like an invisible demon who enjoys sticking his pitchfork into the workings of my brain. In the normal world, I fight a constant battle with GAD for control of my brain, similar to the endless struggle between the Jedi and the…
It is impossible for me to say the word, “freedom” without remembering Mel Gibson painted in blue woad and showing his arse to the English in the slightly historically inaccurate Braveheart. As our quarantine comes to an end I can reassure people that I am not intending to celebrate in a kilt. In fact, I am not sure how to celebrate so I asked the family what we should do. Amy decided to forego William Wallace and, instead, channeled her…
“Spider, SSPPYYDER!” Self-isolation had not begun well. Amy’s scream woke the house at 1:00 in the morning. Daddy, of course, was sent to investigate this giant arachnid attack only to discover an object so small that whether it was a spider, a piece of fluff or just a speck of dirt was indeterminable. There are many suggestions on how to cope with self-isolation, most of these seem to involve copious amounts of alcohol or chocolate (or both). Emily and…
It’s a question that many of us will face in the coming days and weeks, at what point do we decide to self-isolate. Where do we draw the line between caution and not giving in to the mass hysteria that the slightest sniffle could be the coronavirus. Obviously, given that I am (a) male, (b) married to a doctor and (c) have a sister who is a nurse, I have never been able to make an autonomous decision about my…
Magic divides a generation. Whereas my generation grew up with Gandalf, nowadays it’s all about Harry Potter. So what path would Disney’s new film take? We sent our intrepid team of viewers to find out. Immediately there was a comic feel to the film, which is about the relationship between two brothers. The elder brother, Barley, is voiced by Chris Pratt, aka StarLord from Guardians of the Galaxy, and is almost a carbon copy of the Marvel legend, with his…
For a while now people have suggested that I start a blog. Whether it is to record our family adventures, or misadventures as the case may be, write about topics that are important to me, review the latest geeky book or film or, as a last resort, talk about grown up things like religion, politics and tax (clearly not the Holy Trinity), I am going to try and write them here. Please bear with me as this is the first…