Ages of Discovery

Carrots!

I’m walking round our sprawling garden with my daughter Lily talking about our plans for the future when suddenly I find myself falling, falling into goodness knows where. When - covered in grass cuttings and soaking wet - I pick myself up, I’m hooting with laughter but poor Lily’s face is etched with concern. Have I reached the age when I ‘have falls’? On a personal level, I’ve had a pretty rubbish time of it lately with a couple of old health problems coming back to bite me and wretched nights of broken sleep with raging hot flushes (thanks, I’ve exhausted the ‘cures’ but I’m still in danger of spontaneously combusting several times each night). This time, luckily, it’s not my body letting me down but an enormous burrow, partly hidden by vegetation. Bee, our granddaughter, who is also staying with us, goes out with her daddy and grandad to inspect the hole. ‘It was bery deep,’ she confirms. ‘I throwed an apple down it.’ Comforting to know there’ll be something for me to eat if I go flying again.

Bee’s here with her mummy, daddy and baby Iris for a short holiday. We pack as much as possible into every day and get outdoors whenever we can, but, for Bee, ‘holiday’ can only mean one thing and that is a trip to the beach. Unfortunately the weather’s not in our favour, but one day when the waves aren’t too big and the wind isn’t too strong, we manage to get down to Penbryn. Considering it’s our local beach and only just down the road from us, all four adults are weighed down with bags and equipment so that every base is covered for two very tiny girls. Poor Iris; whilst every second of Bee’s first trip to the beach was caught on camera, Iris wins today’s prize for Most Ignored Baby and grumbles quietly to herself whilst Bee tears off her clothes desperate to get into the sea. Grandad scoops her up and all goes swimmingly until a rogue wave spoils the fun. ‘A WABE HAS GONE IN MY MOUTH!!’ Bee screams indignantly. From there everything goes downhill; we wolf down our picnic (sandwiches liberally laced with flying sand) and race back home with Iris who can bear it no longer and Bee who is traumatised by the sea daring to go in her mouth and freezing cold to boot.

Faster Daddy!

Iris trying to zone out!

Watch out for the wabes!

How hard can it be to eat a meal without someone crying?

After five very happy days of watching Bee and Iris discovering the world, we’ve added to the store of wonderful memories. Instead of sitting at my desk or plugging away on social media trying to flog my books, I’ve been watching Bee pull carrots or Iris chortling with baby laughter at her sister. It’s been precious and important time out.

It’s only - yikes - four weeks until the Cardiff Half Marathon and despite various lurgies, I’ve clocked up plenty of training miles (including this morning’s very soggy nine miles in the rain). Once again, I’m running to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and I’m very grateful to the generous souls who’ve helped me raise 62% of my Just Giving target. Thank you so much for your support.

My First Book Signing!

It’s a fine, dry day and there’s an Italian market in the square outside Waterstone’s. Good for a book signing? ‘Bad,’ says Tim. The stalls are blocking the view of the shop and the fine weather’s keeping everyone outdoors. Hmm, that must be why they’ve only put one small poster up for my event, I mean why waste the Blu Tack? Tim demonstrates handing off the marauding hordes After much refolding of a black tablecloth and a rummage around for some books, I’m invited to take up my position at the author table somewhere between ‘fantasy and horror’, children’s books and a poster of the next author, Bobby ‘Iron Duke’ Windsor who’s signing on Monday. Once Tom, Lily, my lovely daughter, and her partner, Russ, are all sure I’m not going to run away, they leave me to it, taking it in turns to make sure I’m all right and bring me tea. Very soon, I notice a small boy watching me. When he returns with his family I learn that he would like to be a writer. His method, he tells me, is to rewr...

Since You've Been Gone

Well, Ma Mère, There have been so many times when I’ve gathered up all the little shiny moments I’ve collected during the day, ready to present to you in our evening phone call and then I remember all over again that you’re not there. But, Mum, so much has happened since you’ve gone - maybe you know, maybe you don’t - that I’ve decided to write to you instead. A few days after you died, we sold our house! After all those months! We even joked about you rattling cages somewhere. At first, nothing happened and then suddenly everything happened at a breathless pace and the next thing I knew I found myself driving (yes, me, driving!) along the M4 to Bridgend and the Time Capsule House, the one you said you and Dad would have bought. I remarked, when we first viewed it that if it was meant for us, it would come to us. Over a year later, when it had been under offer twice, we moved in. Oh, Mum, you and Dad would have loved this house; it’s peak Seventies and the decor - the pampas ensu...

Forever Young

Looking at the blurb for my new Lacura WrinkleStop from Aldi, I see that its active ingredient has been ‘proven to help • Reduce forehead wrinkles by 52% • Reduce crow’s feet by 24% • Restrict 82% of wrinkle muscle activity’ That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? Frankly, after years when my face looked like a lunar landscape thanks to the joys of acne, these days I’m just grateful to see a fairly blemish-free skin. Part of me wants to believe that the wonder cream’s making everything looking a bit smoother and tidier, but, hey, there’s also a lot of ‘aqua’ and ‘glycerin’ in the stuff, too. Besides, I could tamper with my skin as much as I like (and I don’t), but I’ve only got to stand next to my beautiful daughters to see the difference. Ma has wonderful skin, so the chances are there are some helpful genes in the mix, but my dad died far too young of cancer, so it’s not all good news. My dad was a carpenter. ‘You can’t get age from a tin, Miss Chris,’ he’d say when rubbing his hands o...

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