The Time Bubble

What a weird title for this entry, don't you think? All will become clear in the fullness of time. Speaking of fullness, this has been the most full on holiday we have ever had. I often feel we don't do enough as a family back home as real life just gets in the way but this holiday has been literally packed from dawn to dusk with activities. So much so I have precious little time to write, but write I must, because every day that passes, I forget a little of what I have done. I wish I had started writing like this decades ago and kept a complete record of my life. I think back to say, a holiday down here in a caravan we had in 1988 and I can remember scant details at best. Had I written it all down at the time it would be preserved forever now for future generations to enjoy. And regardless of the quality of my writign, enjoy they surely would. I feel I know so little about my parents and grandparents lives. Truly I would cherish being able to read back to the 1940s, som...

We're living through an unprecedented golden era for British sport. A Wimbledon winner, the Tour De France, Cricket, Rugby, it seems we are sweeping all before us. What can be behind this amazing success? I would like to pretend that I have made some sort of contribution to this, but sadly I haven't really had much of an impact. Unless sitting on the sofa with a large bag of Doritos yelling "Come on Andy" at the telly counts. It seems that sport and I have fallen out of love over the years. In fact even in my prime we were not exactly comfortable bedfellows. However, I did used to play a lot of sports, with a level of ability ranging from mediocre to pitiful. But it is the taking part that counts, so they say. The main reason I don't really do anything now, or rather the main excuse I use to get out of it, is that I am too busy with the kids. There is an element of truth in this - after all I can't just nip off for a ride on my bike as and when I feel li...

It just keeps getting better and better. Parenting - such a diverse and ever changing job. One that comes with no manual, no previous experience (unless you count Susie), and a constant joy. It might seem that one day is not that different to the next but it's all subtly changing, all the time. I have been a parent now for about five and a half years. Not long at all in the grand scheme of things, but long enough to appreciate the difference between the life I had before and the life I had now. How strange it seems looking back now to when I didn't have kids - I guess some would look back nostalgically and maybe even longingly to those days when they had complete freedom. OK, well maybe not complete freedom, there was still working for a living, but the type of freedom where you could go to bed what time you liked on a Saturday night and if you didn't want to get up until lunchtime on Sunday, who could stop you? Cruising off for a weekend in Rhyl with my friends - n...

What a very profound title. Really though - what to do with the rest of my life? Tomorrow marks a significant development. You see after almost 5 years of having at least one child at home all day, every day, I make my first steps back to independence when my youngest (Jamie) begins spending every Friday with a childminder. Why am I doing this when it is not like I have to go to work, you may ask? It's not like I've got anything better to do all day? Wrong. As anyone (mostly mums) will tell you, when you have full time responsibility for young children in your care, your life is effectively put on hold for a few years. Yes, obviously you are not completely isolated, there are still nights out, still holidays, day trips, etc, but the simple fact of matter is - well in my case at least, I am no longer contracted to a company for 40 hours a week and can do what the hell I want the rest of the time. I am on constant call to my children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 day...