Here’s a thing: last weekend we had a food-related party, swapping jams, chutneys and so on. Yesterday I caught up with some newspapers from a few weeks ago, and found an article relating to people living in the country, with ‘any social occasion’ (including meeting at the school gates) resulting in frenzied jam swapping. The …
Author archives: alison
Green shoots
Everyone likes a happy ending – or a happy beginning. It’s been a week of good news for various friends, and even if the enjoyment of that is as an onlooker, it’s still good. Darker mornings, political parties trying oneupmanship in how much they want to make public sector cuts, need for central heating that …
Bramble ramble
The sun has been shining on Edinburgh, shining with all its might, even at the weekend, apologies to Lewis Carroll notwithstanding. Last Saturday, we managed an Outing which I am now thinking of as a bramble ramble. The fact that I can also now write about it may make it a (short) ramble about brambles, so the …
If you’re happy and you know it…
…sing along! This post is dedicated to Oscar, who came all the way from Germany to see us in February. (His mum Grit, a former flat mate of mine, tagged along too.) Oscar has been learning some songs in English, and their visit was punctuated by spontaneous “If you’re happy and you know it” singing …
Scenes from a bus – the sequel
None too good at lucid thought in the mornings on the way to work. There’s a reason why they put free papers on the buses in the mornings. It gives us something to hide behind. I’m usually not even awake enough for that, more about staring out the window and hoping to wake up after …