Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
On Monday evening we managed to book a place to stay in Hay-on-Wye for a whole week next year. It was hours after we’d returned from the little town on the southeast borders of Wales, and it is a testament to the festival’s popularity that our booking was the last affordable (just about) place available… Continue reading Hay Festival 2024 – Part One
Well, I think it’s really started. Symptoms: I have acne. My sleep in the last few days has been rubbish for no evident reason. I’m really struggling to build up my long runs because my energy levels are all over the place. It’s been well over two weeks since my period should have started. 1.… Continue reading The Change
The moment, while it lasted, was a blur. I remember the usher fixing my gown on the side, for the umpteenth time, as my hood kept slipping back. The row of graduates in front of me gradually disappeared and, finally, I handed the piece of paper with my name to the man who was introducing… Continue reading Graduation At The Barbican
Of course, it was the butler wot did it. That was almost inevitable given the shonky plot twists that were revealed to us. What I’m still wondering is why the butler did it in the first place and why he was then killed himself! If you’ve never been to a murder mystery night, and I… Continue reading Murder Mystery Night
Today, I have mostly been wrestling with my bed. Not IN my bed. It wasn’t a case of rolling around in the duvet, and refusing to pull up the blinds, as is my occasional want. WITH our bed. Have you ever tried to turn a king-sized mattress around in a room that has barely a… Continue reading First World Problems
I’ve been thinking about this film on and off, since we saw it last week. It is definitely one of those films that might get refined in your head on a second viewing. Not refined in the sense that you could answer all the questions it poses, but in the sense that the familiarity settles… Continue reading All Of Us Strangers – directed by Andrew Haigh
I’m gathering the cards together from a game that the kids had been playing. A pairing game. Match the animal … to its droppings. It is a universal truth that children of a certain age have a fascination for all things scatological. Just saying the word ‘poo’ out loud sends our nearly two and nearly… Continue reading Croccy Double – XC Madness
Today comes before another day, but that other’s not like the rest. We’ve imbued it with an added magic, the power to start afresh. It’s not a modern phenomenon, the Babylonians made New Year a twelve-day festival. They didn’t seem too bothered about getting thinner/ fitter/ frugal, but they promised to pay their debts and… Continue reading New Year’s Eve
On the shortest morning of the shortest day, we are cooped up inside while the wind buffets and the rain scatterguns our window. Our neighbour’s whomping willow is whipping itself into a frenzy. I feel for kids and commuters, having to brave these storms to reach their destinations. For the posties tramping along the streets… Continue reading A&E – Part Two
When Anne told the nurse that we decided against coming in at half past ten on a Friday night, she laughed and replied that we’d made the right call. This was at the end of two and a half hours of: waiting; triage; x-ray; and then a little more waiting. It was an interesting array… Continue reading Saturday Morning in A&E
theleadlesspencil 