It's easy to feel a bit stuck in our industrial small-town corner of central Africa. Direct flights out are very few, and very expensive. In our case, MT has not so far been able to take any holiday time to coincide with the school holidays. Our last relaxing family holiday feels like a long time… Continue reading Your Brazzaville Escape Plan
Trolling Myself
The end is in sight of another two-week French school holiday. A week ago I was congratulating myself on being a 'good mum': as well as daily tennis coaching, the boys had an English lesson with me scheduled every morning. There were movies and Netflix, but also lunches with friends, craft projects, and card games… Continue reading Trolling Myself
How Not to Keep a Travel Journal
Best. Wedding Present. Ever. Well, it was the one that impressed me the most that day anyway: a large shiny gift box filled with fancy goodies from Paperchase. When I opened it up it seemed like the most thoughtful and tailored collection of life-enhancing little items in the pile. The Book Journal was an obvious… Continue reading How Not to Keep a Travel Journal
Things You Never Said to my Husband
Back in September, MT* spent about 10 days on a solo holiday, enjoying a reunion with a group of friends who had travelled together back in the day. The timing wasn't great, given that I’d not quite recovered from six weeks of solo parenting in the summer holidays. But I was happy for him to… Continue reading Things You Never Said to my Husband
Haggis, Tatties and Nae Selfies
Today, 25th January, is Burns Night, which, unlike St Andrew's Day, is celebrated just as much back home in Scotland as it is by the diaspora. Especially in the west and south-west, where I grew up. The first poems I learned to recite in primary school were Burns' poems, and it was at inter-school Burns… Continue reading Haggis, Tatties and Nae Selfies
A Year of Words and Work
I kept hearing about words as 2018 kicked off. There was the usual round-up of announcements by dictionary publishers and websites, telling us their most looked-up or supposedly definitive word of 2017. These include, if you're interested, youthquake, populism, complicit, feminism, and, my personal favourite, Milkshake Duck. On the less clickbaity side of things, some… Continue reading A Year of Words and Work
Blue Sky Gazing
Ah, life in the tropics. Gets a bit hot, but at least we get the sun! Sunshine, beaches, palm trees and blue, blue skies. That's how you picture it, right? A friend posted a beautiful holiday photo the other day, and it took a moment to dawn on me what was so appealing about it.… Continue reading Blue Sky Gazing
The Dream Job/No Job Conundrum
Sometimes it seems like I spend more time listening to people talking about writing than doing any writing. OK, full disclosure, over the past two months, I definitely have spent more time listening to people talking about writing than doing any writing. One of the podcasts I've found along the way is The Petal to… Continue reading The Dream Job/No Job Conundrum
Congo Sketch: The School Run at Walking Pace
It's another typically untypical morning in Congo, where no day ever goes quite as planned. Today, our driver isn't with us, as he had to take his child into hospital overnight with suspected malaria. So MT has taken the car to work with him, and I've hitched a lift with our neighbour to drop the… Continue reading Congo Sketch: The School Run at Walking Pace
Exploring Dorsoduro
The great advantage of visiting an iconic city for the second time is that the pressure is off - there's no longer that urgent impulse to tick off the major must-see tourist attractions within a short time frame. A few years ago I had the privilege of a romantic trip to Venice, where we made… Continue reading Exploring Dorsoduro
