Weather and holidays? Now you're talking my language....

My blog posts are like buses – there will be another one along in a minute.

This one combines two classic subjects – The Weather and What I Did On My Holidays.

The former is so awful I am more than happy to reminisce about the latter – and that’s exactly what I do in my latest Families Leeds column. Check it out here on page 6 and learn what happens when a very dedicated father resolves to turn a trip to Spain into The Lingo Show Live.....

                                       Families Leeds

BOOK REVIEW: Are We Nearly There Yet? Plus interview with author Ben Hatch

You know how if it’s someone else’s child having a tantrum, it’s not at all stressful? In fact, perversely it’s quite relaxing, reassuring and even amusing?

That, in essence, is what it is like to read this book. Ben Hatch’s account of how he and his wife Dinah travelled 8,000 miles round Britain with their two toddlers in a Vauxhall Astra is a great read for several reasons.

To start with, there’s plenty you can relate to. The purpose of the Hatch’s trip was to write a guide book of family-friendly accommodation and attractions in the UK, and it is like an extreme version of every daytrip you’ve ever been on, complete with spilled drinks, near-miss danger moments and crack-you-up one-liners from the wee ones.

Happy Jubilee!

Hello! I am currently knee deep in washing having returned from a family holiday en Mallorca (fab) with one day to turn things around before the four-day Jubilee weekend extravaganza.

A doctors’ appointment followed by supermarket sweep this morning, I am now offering my darling little boy any bribe going so he’ll leave me to the laptop to reply to 101 emails that should have been sent a week ago.

So it seemed timely to share my column in the lovely Families Magazine (Click to open the PDF, I’m on page 8), in which I pledge solemnly to be really organised and bake great cakes for the momentous Royal occasion. (Cue hollow laugh).

Baking fails aside, I am wishing everyone a brilliant bank holiday weekend and urge you to check out the online Families Magazine too, where there are lots of listings of events and activities in the Leeds area. Happy holidays! xxx

What's on the soap box?

Competitive parenting doesn’t really bother me. If someone wants to tell me how much time they spend doing educational activities with their kids, honestly, I’m fine with that. If they want to outline in great detail the lovingly created, fresh organic meals they serve up to their offspring, quite frankly, I find it interesting.

But if there’s one thing that gets my goat, its parents who hark on about rationing or even banning television.

Can I get on my toy soap box for one wee moment?

A star is born

I never told you about my amazing friend Carolyn, star of One Born Every Minute.

She agreed to take part in the show to raise awareness when she found out her unborn baby had a cleft lip.

And when I say she starred, I mean it. Giving birth to her gorgeous son Jamie she appeared brave, calm, and she and husband John were a fantastic comedy double act – they should have a spin-off series all to themselves.

GUEST BOOK CLUB REVIEW: Virals (Kathy Reichs)

Introducing a brilliant guest post by book clubber Alison Bloomfield. Thank you Alison, I owe you more cake! (NB, just to explain, we don't always drink fizz at book club, it was someone's birthday!)

First let me apologize that I'm not as articulate as BCM, especially so after a late night eating cake, drinking fizz (it's the bubbles!!) and some time spent discussing the book.

*Warning - this review contains some plot spoilers!*

Since I'm the person that chose the book I was a bit wary about what the others would think of it and was fully prepared for a verbal lynching! I picked it because I'm a fan of the Kathy Reichs' Bones books so was looking forward to reading Virals - her first book in a three-part contribution to the teen market.

BOOK REVIEW: Mr Pip (Lloyd Jones)

Most evenings, I glance at the news, at stories about places where horrendous things are happening and people have lost everything. I make a flimsy effort to conceive of the significance of that story.

Then I go to bed and read a chapter of the book I’m reading. I say a chapter, but if it’s good, and there’s a bit of a cliff-hanger ending to that chapter, I’ll read another, and maybe even another.

Mr Pip is set on a tropical island where people have lost everything and horrendous things are happening.

The sing-song voice of our narrator, the teenager Matilda, gives the setting a dream-like quality. As she describes the sea and the heat and the sand on the island, Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, there is a sense of the beauty of the place, and of it having been forgotten.