Objects of Me

lap top - office mum

What objects define you? That's the question asked by Maud on Awfully Chipper recently, and her story of her mother's gold watch hooked me in. My mum had a gold watch with a clasp too, and though I haven't thought of it for years, when I read Maud's post, the memory came back as clear as ever, and ...

Life in colour – who has Synesthesia?

Synesthesia - Office Mum

Until my mid twenties, I thought everybody saw numbers and days of the week in colour, and months of the year as concrete spots on an imaginary clock face. Then I had a very enlightening conversation with my sisters who told me they didn't in fact see Friday as yellow or any other colour, and didn't see ...

The Work Wardrobe Has Come Full Circle

black work trousers - Office Mum

For seventeen years, I had an office uniform. Not a real uniform – just one that met the dress code of a typical office. For the first few years, the self-imposed uniform was mostly black-trousers-and-something, though I occasionally changed it up with grey trousers - just to add a splash of colour. My trousers were always too long ...

Seven Ways to Pretend to be Busy at Work

busy man - office mum

He's the busiest person in the office. Most of us know this person. He is always too busy to stop and talk. He must be important, because nobody could be that busy all the time and not be important. And whatever you do, don't ask him to take on anything else - can't you see he's already ...

On Balance

runners - office mum

In theory, there's no reason to make resolutions just because it's the start of a new year, but where there's an excuse to make a list and potentially tick things off, count me in. I don't usually make long or detailed resolutions - I hand-pick a handful of broad goals and write them on the back of an envelope, then leave ...

Saturday Night Evolution

cocktails

The roar of football from one room, a kids' movie in the other. The smell of steak and onions. An as yet unopened bottle of red on the counter. It's on a promise. The doors are closed, the blinds are down, the pressure's off. There's a blanket of calm with a weave of excitement running through. There's an ...

The only thing worse than looking, was looking away

WelcomeRefugees

This morning I dropped my three-year-old to preschool, and when I got home, I clicked onto Twitter. The first thing I saw was the picture of Syrian child Aylan Kurdi's body on a beach. Instinctively I clicked back out - it felt completely wrong to look at it at all. But a moment later, the only thing ...