The Lockdown Diaries

Does anyone else feel like they are living in a Groundhog Day-style tedium of monotony, with the only differentiator from day-to-day...

With the latest wishy washy announcement from the newspaper columnist that is in charge of the country, came not excitement and...

Henry asked me yesterday what my favourite thing about lockdown was. Easy, I said, spending more time with you guys. Under no other...

I'm a great one for resolutions and fresh starts. Not a new year or birthday can go past without me merrily making a list of all the ways...

There’s nothing quite like a mini break to reset your mood. And this week, amid regrettable circumstances, that was what we all got. On...

The more conscientious fans among you (hi Mum and Dad) will notice my posts have become a little more sporadic of late. I’ve worked...

If you’ve never sat down and worked out how much your children cost you, may I take this opportunity to caution against it. We did it...

As is often the way, after a proper gripe about what a bad day we’d all had, we followed it up with an absolute belter of a lockdown...

By about 8.30am yesterday it became very evident that not one of us could be arsed, quite frankly. We all have off days - either Andy or...

One of the truly brilliant things to come out of the pandemic is the sudden, clunking realisation that the NHS is an absolutely bloody...

[I am going to litter this post with pictures of holidays past, partly for lack of any other relevant images but also because they make...

When we went into lockdown we, along with a lot of other parents we know, took a deep breath and told ourselves we just had to get...

It’s weird when the only people you see outside your immediate family on any given day are largely strangers. We end up hanging a lot of...

I'm no stranger to solo parenting - Andy's job often takes him abroad for days at a time (including when Henry was 14 days old but I'm...

I had two cups of tea yesterday. (What an opener.) The first, at 5.45am, was more of a stiffener. Something to help me stay conscious. I...

I sometimes worry that I come across as a bit of a self-pitying misery in these posts. While I'm far too exhausted to worry for very...

When we went into lockdown I remember acknowledging a fleeting moment of relief that I like my husband. I wonder how many people have...

I can’t be the only person craving some non-Covid news. Gone are the days when we had something to talk about in the evenings. When I...

It occurred to me over the weekend that we have now spent longer in lockdown than Jesus did in the desert, though to be fair to him we...

I’m delighted to report that we have reached the point of lockdown at which the children are turning into small versions of us. This was...