365 Days

This day last year, March 12th, at around this time, I remember listening to the radio and bursting into tears when it was announced that schools would be closing for two weeks. It felt dramatic and scary and surreal and as we all know, it went on for a lot longer than two weeks. It feels ...

Rudderless

German lessons. Typing programs. PE classes. I look back now on the lists I put together in March, the things I thought would fill my kids’ days, and I shake my head. Not in a mean way, I’m just bemused at my early-lockdown-self, the one who thought the kids would spend their time in productive pursuits. In ...

And then the lights went out…

Five o'clock Thursday. Peak domesticity. The washing machine was swirling. The dishwasher was whirring. The sausage rolls for Friday's lunch boxes were half-cooked. The shower was running, the heat was  heating, the lights were on. Until suddenly, mid spelling-test-prep, they weren't. The house was in darkness. Myself and the spelling-test-prepper looked at each other, then she ran ...