Memories (T)

Today Anita threw out the tin of vegetarian haggis we bought shortly after we got married. It never was quite the right time to eat it.

Goodbye Grandma (T)

Grandma is returning home after one month of attentive care of her London grandsons, having enjoyed a volatile but mild London February. I'm pretty sure it is mild, as I have not worn gloves this entire winter, whereas I always used to, or at least regret it the days I forgot. In the pictures, it's snow in Paddington Gardens, and sunshine in Hyde Park, my mother secure in fake fur throughout.

Boys (T)

Seb looking up through his mobile, he seems very attentive for his age - just over one month now!

Eddie really has had a haircut now, and so we have one baby and one little boy.

to answer some questions... (A)

1. no, the accidental home birth was not stressful. it was great!

2. and no, it was not quick. it was only the second stage that progressed too rapidly for us to get to the hospital...i had been having regular 10 minute contractions since midnight the night before....so all up 24 hours, people



p.s. i now recommend home births to everyone

Marylebone (T)

Here is my mother at the former home of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, which she tracked down somewhere in Marylebone, on one of her day trips with Eddie.

We just changed our minds again today about selling our flat; we're going to keep it, regardless of how our plans develop for 2007. We'll probably find it hard to sell again in the short term even if we do continue vacillating, as we're running out of estate agents to annoy.

I read an article in the Christmas edition of The Economist that described recent research into the brain and the relationship between its physical structure and our base emotions and thus our psychology. Neural scientists agree that there are six basic emotions which underly our more complex psychological emotions such as greed or desire.

The base emotions are: fear, anger, joy, surprise, disgust and sadness.

I guess if these emotions are fairly evenly distributed then it should be no surprise that life is hard. Perhaps the best you can do is hope your surprises are nice ones.