I have always fancied myself as having a really good memory. Certainly, when I was younger, I never forgot anything. I was always able to remember trivial facts and, in my schoolwork, I seldom had to revise hard for my exams. I also did a great deal of acting at home and at university, andContinue reading “Do memories fade?”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Lockdown reflections – the missing part of Mac’s story
One thing has really hit me during this crisis. As ever for me it’s not the grand macro events. I listen to the numbers every day on the TV – and the scientist in me looks for the patterns, trying to understand if we are getting some sort of control of things, trying to seeContinue reading “Lockdown reflections – the missing part of Mac’s story”
Lockdown reflections – lockdown without Mac
So I’m entering my sixth week of working from home, and most of them under lockdown. I’m one of the lucky ones – one of the ones who can continue to work from home; one of the ones who gets to experience lockdown in a nice home with my wife and two dogs and aContinue reading “Lockdown reflections – lockdown without Mac”
Mother’s Day 2009
Special Occasions I think it’s pretty common if you are longing for children that you spend some time imagining special occasions and how they might be when you do have children. Birthday parties, Christmas, family occasions more generally are all very different as a parent of a young child. I know that once we hadContinue reading “Mother’s Day 2009”
Oh! He’s down!
On the way home from work on Friday, I took a cab back to Waterloo. As we were driving along the Mile End Road, the cabbie had to make an emergency stop to stop him ploughing into a car that had just turned in front of him with no indicators. Of course, I wasn’t watchingContinue reading “Oh! He’s down!”
A new school, a new start
So, at the end of Year 9, Mac left his first secondary school with some relief for all of us, looking forward to a new school in the September. New friends -post 26 Starting at a new school after everyone else has settled in is never easy. I had to do that when I movedContinue reading “A new school, a new start”
Rollercoasters and testing boundaries!
I saw this description of bringing up teenagers the other day. When you get into a rollercoaster, and the bar is brought down over your head and fixed over your lap, the natural instinct is to push it and try to dislodge it and test it. Of course, deep down we know that the rollercoasterContinue reading “Rollercoasters and testing boundaries!”
Growing up in the village
One of the things that you do when you are going through the adoption approval process is to sit down and map out your support network – it is vitally important that you have people around you who can help you through the transition, especially as first-time parents. Adopting a child, rather than a baby,Continue reading “Growing up in the village”
Sports
As Mac’s parents, we wanted to make sure that he had as many opportunities to learn new skills and take part in new activities as he could, and to make up for some of the things he had missed out on in his earlier life. Academia was never going to be the highlight of Mac’sContinue reading “Sports”
Starting secondary school
Transition to secondary school Transitions and change can be really difficult for adopted children. As so many of them have lacked stability and the basic groundwork that children normally have, it is naturally unsettling when another change is forced upon them. It’s another time when they feel they lack control and they are not sureContinue reading “Starting secondary school”
