Curious George is a movie that can penetrate even the most noise-cancelling of headphones. Writing a novel in the same room as a...

Just before dawn yesterday I had one of those very special nightmares where you wake, unable to breathe from the horror, saying to...

I, sadly not a celestial being, had to remain here on the earth that quaked every day for eight or nine hours as the diggers ripped...

But I’m confused, because although I think that’s what I said, what he seems to have heard is, ‘I am a Lego Detective. I can find any...

My children have picked up on that and helpfully compensated to bring my overall happiness down to neutral. Both of them are still...

That, of course, is when then the gods strike you down. That is when you all come down with a virus and the teacher sends home a bunch of...

In the past I have been very bad at giving Valentine’s Day gifts to H, which is a great shame because he is far more romantic than I am...

Proper homemade gingerbread house that I had absolutely nothing to do with. Grandmothers are where it’s at. Good New Year to you, dear...

I need to cull our belongings. This is a truth universally known. But I am also a sentimentalist at heart. I know how you’re meant to get...

I’m doing that thing I always do when I come back from new and wonderful, and I try to transport the lifestyle. When H and I went to...

That aside, we are really very extremely excited. We are going to Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The trip has come about because Jess is a...

We are disgraceful: this was one of only two photos we have of anyone in this family doing anything even vaguely athletic, while also not...

Sample bookshelf from my parents’ attic: Just one of the many collections of books that tells you probably more than you need to know...

Part of a Lego exhibition we saw on the weekend and in no way a freakishly accurate representation of our bedroom when it’s my morning to...

We Will Rock You is a musical by Ben Elton, based on the songs of Queen. When arranging the tickets I made very sure Dad was aware that...

From top: gun, sword, wand. AKA ‘kindling for Granddad’. I’ve never thought brandishing a stick was a good idea. We were always told by...

Poor little kid. She and her brother are so prone to ear infections and croup. They just have tiny little respiratory tracts and...

This week he has been brought to howling tears by many and varied injustices. There was the fact that I would not go under the house to...

Occasionally he makes up a word (‘You nuckus!’) or just pops something that’s not an insult at all (‘You big sandwich!) None of it is...

How I cope with this is to put aside what I should be doing (perhaps preparing my keynote speech for the International Conference on...