leedspostcards.co.uk Warning* This post refers to male violence against women. As a young woman, I had a poster of this postcard on my wall. I have embroidered it onto linen in green and purple threads, stitching words still depressingly relevant nearly 30 years later. How can that be? When so much has changed in the…
This week I have been mostly on the Tik-Agram. Or is it Insta-Tok? Whatever, I’ve been pebbling (check me out, all down with the kids) pebbling my daughter and daughter-in-law with reels and funny memes and that bloke that goes on about the posh ice. My daughter did suggest I limit the number of pebbles…
Next-door’s back fence has blown down and because the house is empty the council haven't been around to fix it, despite me telling them. With the fence down I can see more of the path that runs through the estate and more of the people on it. Dog walkers throwing sticks, some failing to pick…
I love a list. Without a list the things I think I have to do – more on that in a bit – drift out of my head, like balloons making a bid for freedom into a bright summer sky. Without a list I feel untethered, sure I should be doing something but not quite…
Late Christmas Eve, early 2010s. I'm sat in the car with my two youngest children, both under ten, waiting to pick up my middle son from his shift at the local CO-OP. Stars litter the sky with sharp, tight light, our breath sends dragon smoke clouds into the black frozen sky. The heater is dodgy…
I am sorting through the kitchen drawer, you know the one where you shove all the bits and pieces, - the takeaway menus and the washing machine manual, lolly-sticks from that time you were gonna make your own, broken bamboo skewers that you are saving in case there is a bamboo shortage. So, I was…
Pockets There is a thing that happens when your children are all grown up. Suddenly you have pockets. Pockets on coats, pockets in bags, pockets on jeans. It’s not that these pockets suddenly appear. It’s more that these pockets suddenly become yours. Let me explain, see when you have kids your pockets are always full…
I miss my kids. Not just as they are now -the funny, bright, annoying, boring people they have become with their busy lives, exciting plans and lives far away. I miss them, for how they used to be, when they were mine, when I held their hands and wiped away their tears. It’s not all…
Do your kids have pets? Over the years we’ve had a whole bloody menagerie. There were several Hamsters, though my daughter thought we only had one – We also had three cats so I will let you work it out. One time, on an early morning dash back from the pet store with a replacement…
Photo by Armando Are on Pexels.com We have this myth that our kids are grownups at 18. This is a myth mostly perpetuated by 18-year-old who think they know everything, and possibly by the parents of young children who are desperately clinging to the idea of a little light at the end of a very…
Bordering Grey 