It’s been a frantic summer at The Mother in Law’s House. The garden is outgrowing itself, and has transformed from ‘bohemian wilderness’ into a danger zone of wayward nettles, skin-piercing brambles, and precarious precipices. (The 7 metre-tall, 100 year-old back wall that collapsed during a storm in the spring – leaving a sea of crumbled […]
Every Wednesday night, at around 8 o’clock, The Mother-in-Law’s House becomes a centre for yoga practice for the friends, lovers and key-holders of milady’s manor. The Husband and I retreat downstairs after wrestling cuddling the children to sleep, and then empty the living room of all signs of daytime life. The Mother-in-Law hoovers, I make […]
The Mother-in-Law’s House was transformed into Grand Central Station this week, with the arrival and now imminent departure of Sally and her family. If the internet were made of paper, you would see the tear drop stains on this page. I first met Sally a year ago at shul in Bristol, where she and her […]
Last week was a tumultuous time in The Mother-in-Law’s House. On Wednesday, The Husband and I had a flaming barney just before he left for work, which crescendoed in my almost throwing his lunch at him in the hallway. Luckily for The Husband – and the falafel within his lunch bag – the Jewish wife […]
All is quietening down in The Mother-in-Law’s House. After the summer’s beavering away, we are all turning in like a family of mice bedding down for the winter in an old boot. We have yet to replace the light bulbs which are blowing daily, one by one, leaving an atmospheric chiaroscuro falling upon the rooms, […]
A few months ago, when I was planting out seedlings in The Secret Garden, we met our neighbours for the first time. Or rather they met us. Zippy and Roo were attempting to scale the crumbling wall between our two gardens, in pursuit of their ballsy cat, Henry, who never tires of teasing the children […]
