89. We used to have a bedroom…

89. We used to have a bedroom…

…but now we have this.   Taking multi-functional living to new extremes   Which is, in its way, pleasing to look at. But it’s less pleasing when I get up for the loo in the middle of the night and have to inch my way along the bottom of the bed,...
88. February squared

88. February squared

I’ve been trying hard to blog more frequently in 2016. Like many resolutions, I did really well in January then fell off a cliff in February. Not updating the blog for five weeks is the writerly equivalent of sacking off the gym and eating a whole bag of doughnuts...
87. Return of the gardening bore

87. Return of the gardening bore

Winter is easier to bear when you have a garden. Gardening is optimistic, it’s looking ahead to spring and summer. It’s organising. For me, gardening involves planning the veg garden and buying seeds in early winter. That, in turn, involves writing lists and mapping...
82. Polytunnel city

82. Polytunnel city

‘Let’s build a greenhouse for the tomatoes,’ we said. ‘Just a small one,’ we said. You might wonder why, when we live in the land of hot summers, we felt such an urge. Well, reader, last year we had a pretty wet summer (warm, but wet and stormy) so Rob hastily erected...
78. Gardening bore

78. Gardening bore

This one goes out to Mike, who will soon be back in the gardening groove. Have fun, sir. You might remember last year we overhauled the veg garden: creating raised beds, laying a stone path and adding a rustic stick fence. We were pretty pleased with it at the time...
70. Gardening and the art of compromise

70. Gardening and the art of compromise

Last year was our first summer growing veg; our first summer with a garden of our own. It’s brilliant when you eat your first home-grown courgette (not so much when eating your two-hundredth home-grown courgette). But, man, gardening is a lot of hard work. Weeds are...
  Follow me on Instagram  |  Sign up for the newsletter