Category Archives: daddymummybabyblog

a crash course for the ravers

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Mark Rossiter

“So who was this dude”, ask my kids, “and why are all the middle-ageds so upset?” Why did the principal of my daughter’s school (born somewhere dahn sarf, 1962) approach me in the playground at pick-up time, to commiserate and reminisce? … Continue reading →

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inventing God

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

Kyria said: Daddy, where did the world come from? To let her make up her own mind, I told her the two main western accounts: created in a week (say Christians and Muslims) and evolution. Hmm, she said, I’m not … Continue reading →

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Connemara

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

From Galway we drove west towards the opposite end of the European Union from Zamosc. At Leenane, the kids learned to card wool and we sat in an old pub at lunchtime with a pint of Guinness, a completely comfortable … Continue reading →

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not quite fever pitch

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Today is Cup Final day, Ian’s first: Chelsea v Liverpool. He is 19 days younger than I was when I watched my first, in 1971: Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2, with Steve Heighway, in flaming red, scoring from near the corner … Continue reading →

Posted in daddymummybabyblog, older, random amnesia | 5 Comments

the face I deserve

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

“By the time a man is 50 he has the face he deserves.” If you google that, it comes up that George Orwell wrote it; but nowhere does it say exactly where, chapter and verse. So was it him? Almost … Continue reading →

Posted in daddymummybabyblog, older, peak and decline | 8 Comments

catbrain

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Mark Rossiter

Jeoffrey Boycat, our boy cat (his name a combination of a Yorkshire joke and the Christopher Smart poem) spends a fair amount of time out at night catting about. One of my morning duties, along with putting on the kettle … Continue reading →

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more bad news to ignore

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Mark Rossiter

Stories yesterday in the Guardian and the Independent about how carbon emissions are rising quickly again after the Great Recession, and how they will flip us into feedback loops in the Arctic within 20 years. These stories hunt in packs, … Continue reading →

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pony convention on the landing

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Mark Rossiter

I knew that playing with ponies was an important part of princess training, and I knew we had picked up a few along the way. Just exactly how many had slipped by me unawares, though, until they all got together:

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princessing: a serious business

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Mark Rossiter

Last weekend: Kyria kept pestering me all Friday morning to switch on the TV so she could watch the royal wedding. Eventually, a couple of hours before it was due to start, I did; she and Natasha sat rapt in … Continue reading →

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a Thursday night in April

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Mark Rossiter

Last night we took the kids and Natasha to the Wanderers, with Kyria riding on Natasha’s knee in the back. There was a concert going on, and Allison sang Stop Your Sobbing – I could tell she was unsure of … Continue reading →

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