Extremely hard x

My eldest had a proper, proper meltdown when he realised the dead hedgehog we found wasn’t coming back - aged about 5. But he seems to have forgotten that now - maybe we protect ourselves

- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Before we know the word for it, before we know that there are words,out we come, bloodied and squalling...with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, there's only one direction
and time is its only measure.

It must have been shattering, stamped into one's memory. And yet I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality.

Estranged from my 14 year old after he cherry picked all the peanut butter cups

I love those too

The accidental leak RUINED the 20 minutes I had set aside for ‘eating a sandwich’ but did massively help with having to broadcast at 3pm. A scenario repeated across newsroom I expect

I am excited to tell my children about their new uber privileged status conveyed by a weekly chicken.

I always do a rapid sum to work out the age of the children and it’s always painful

Ah but they require year-round devotion!

I never started that! There’s 30 bloody kids, just OPENING the cards is a commitment let alone sending our own

Every year (they work hard, we do a class collection)

Oh yes, Christmas talent show.

Christmas jumper day, Christmas party day (Christmas jumper recommended), Christmas play, Christmas fair, Christmas raffle, Christmas toy day, Christmas food bank collection, Christmas decoration day, Christmas present for teacher&TA, Christmas dinner (Christmas jumper recommended). What did I miss?

‘Liam's parents say when they adopted him, they were told all he would need was love - but the reality was far more complicated. "Love is not enough," Verity says. "We still love Liam. Love is not enough."’