Moots, mum and mutts.

  On the hottest day of the year, while waiting for my school to shut, I had a message from my Uni girl reminding me that it was results day. Over the past few months, we have had so many upheavals: losing my father-in-law to cancer, having to make decisions about immunotherapy for our five-year-old, and making life-changing decisions regarding employment. Those results felt like another anxiety I couldn’t quite deal with at that moment. Once home, in the cool, air-conditioned bedroom, I braced myself for possible disappointment. Not only did I want to do well, which I guess pretty much everyone wants, but I also wanted to justify my hard work and my return to study to my in-laws, who have seen this move as ridiculous, or even a waste of time. For me, it is neither. For me, it is finally slaying the imposter syndrome demon that has lived rent-free in my head for as long as I can remember. I have always felt that some professions were clearly out of reach for me. Anything medical fe...

  This weekend, we took our five year old Fred and our sixteen year old daughter Amelie along to the South Wales Police Family Fun Day at Police Headquarters in Bridgend. Despite the rain, we had such a brilliant time. The weather certainly tried its best to dampen our enthusiasm, but it did not succeed although my umbrella gave up the fight quite spectacularly and ended the day in several pieces! From the moment we arrived, there was so much to see and do. Fred quickly discovered that stickers were available at the different stands, so collecting as many as possible became a very important mission, as well as sweets and other freebies. He loved dressing up as a police officer, handcuffing his sister, trying his hand at the Nerf shooting range and looking at the impressive equipment on display. The very large guns were particularly fascinating to him, although perhaps slightly less reassuring for his mother! We enjoyed seeing the police animals in action, including the dogs and the...