Very Brief Existential Crisis (now recovered having written it down-DO NOT FEAR FOR MY SANITY!)

The other day I started feeling sorry for myself about my love life (e.g. lack thereof). This is a terrible state of affairs, because it has the ability to depress me like nothing else; well, nothing else apart from those times when I look out of the window, usually at work, and sigh sadly to…

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Feeling a bit starved of affection. Might Get Cat.

It is a fact well established that a woman not in possession of a husband must be in want of a baby.  Or at the very least a cat, so I was of course not surprised to see (on Twitter.  Not in the course of my own literary wanderings.  I prefer something a little more…

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The One With The Snow Day

It is a fact well established that one spends all winter praying for a snow day and then when one finally arrives, the reality never quite lives up to its powdery promise. “Let’s go to a coffee shop!” I said.  “We’ll go to a coffee shop, in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY!  And do our…

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The Half Term Pressure

I am currently sitting on the sofa.  It is Sunday, and there is no work tomorrow.  Instead there is a week stretching ahead of me in which I must make up for all the time I didn’t have in term time by making sure I’m up to date with work, fitting in all the life…

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Grid Girls: A Philosophical Analysis

As you may know my day job involves, amongst other things, discussing philosophy with teenagers.  One of my Year 13 students commented recently that it must be a wonderful job, sitting around having conversations all day about the great mysteries of the universe, and for the most part, it is.  We’ll ignore the marking for…

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Back Where I Belong

My brother once accused me of being like a salmon. I took it as a compliment, as one does.  Back in the days before I was vegetarian (seventeen years ago, though it gives me palpitations at the thought of my ever-increasing antiquity) I used to enjoy the occasional smoked salmon, and with their leaping about…

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Nine New Year’s Resolutions for Single Parents With No Money

New Year’s Resolutions are a funny thing.  For a start, surely it’s better to turn over a new leaf at a time of year when you are not literally etching the days onto a bleak wall like a prisoner waiting to be released, eking out a cold and miserable existence until the crocuses raise their…

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The Utter Trauma of Taking the Tree Down

Apparently, the Queen leaves her Christmas tree up until February. And I know this because I recently binge watched three royal-themed documentaries back to back on Channel 5.  Why watch The Crown on Netflix when you can have the real deal on Freeview complete with soundbites from a couple of the Daily Mail’s finest royal…

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#SingleMumCooks:The Easiest Dessert in the World

Anybody else still slowly eating their way through huge mountains of Christmas chocolate, cheese and other festive ingredients that don’t get a look in the rest of the year (chestnut pureé, anyone?) No?  Everyone else on a diet of kale, chia seeds and self-hatred?  Oh well, perhaps this recipe isn’t for you. The funny thing…

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Ten Ways to Survive Twixtmas

It was the day before Twixtmas, and all through the house….. Oh hang on, the day before Twixtmas is Christmas Day, and precisely nobody-except, I imagine, those who are profoundly lonely or whose family are a shower of b******s-spends Christmas Day ruminating on the joys of the next day.  After all, we’re all too busy…

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