The Railway Children

A review of The Railway Children stage production, by GG… Recently we went to see the railway children in London. It includes a real steam train and it feels like you’re sitting on a platform. First you enter the theatre and it looks like a proper train station waiting room. We bought some malteasers to eat in the theatre. When you walk in the cast walk around the stage and talk to you. The actress playing the mother came and talked to us and she was very friendly. When the performance started ,the children talked about the story as if …

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Brave Bones

I looked at my son and my heart melted. Well done you! the lady at the first checkpoint congratulated him. You just cycled 5 miles! I cringed and prayed that he hadn’t heard – I’d been telling him for the last ten minutes that he was already eight miles into his twenty mile charity cycle ride. He’d heard. I upped my motivational skills. My daughter called me a slavedriver and refused to be motivated. With every hill I cheered “Walk, don’t wander! Make it count!” At the ten mile point Actually Daddy suggested that we downgrade our aspirations and make do with …

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Football Mum of the Year

I sit here merrily typing at my kitchen desk, courtesy of Actually Daddy. Saturday mornings are his territory; it’s my day for a lie-in, and for catching up with Facebook work. Saturday is when he takes the kids to football practice. I was perpelexed when my six-year-old daughter told me she wanted to join the football club at school. I signed her up, and intensified our shoelace-tying lessons – she was totally doing that stint on her own! No way was I standing in the cold on a dark winter’s evening while my child threw herself around a muddy field. …

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Orla Kiely Backpack review

I am not known as a designer bag girl. I have friends whose cupboards are filled with thousands of pounds worth of beautiful bags; who transfer the contents of their handbags daily, so they can sport the perfect tote for their day, or their outfit. Personally, I’ve never seen the point, when there’s so much money to spent on shoes, and holidays, and gorgeous food. Until now… Orla Kiely backpack review The Pod Company – possibly spotting a style need in me – offered to send me an Orla Kiely bag to review, and another one to giveaway. Now, I …

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Around Barbados on an inflatable sofa

Around Barbados on an inflatable sofa!

“Hold. On. Tight!” I managed to gasp as all the air was pushed out of my lungs, and my cheeks did an impression of the worst face-lift in history. Torn between keeping my suddenly very small-looking child safe, and preventing my own ungainly demise into the ocean, I alternated between white-knuckling the grips, and resting an ineffectual elbow across his belly. My husband was screaming at the other end of the sofa; I could just make out the words “lunch” and “shrimp,” as I realised he was fearful for the contents of his stomach. “Mine’s halfway up my oesophagus!” shouted my …

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How to spend £100

How would you spend £100?

I’ve not been around much recently, but my mother, on seeing this particular nugget of a blog headline, decided that I would be the best candidate to answer the question. She’s probably right. You really don’t want to know what she’d spend £100 on. But I’m going to tell you anyway, just so you know what kind of person she really is. Yoghurt. Every week she does a grocery shop and comes back home with £100 of yoghurt. (This may be a slight exaggeration – she does occasionally add milk, ham and juice to the fridge. Oh, and Cheerios). But …

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