Ahem, Lily Kay Chislett was born on 14th August 2026 to Ella and Sam in Haywards Heath at two minutes to six in the morning. It was not a straight-forward birth in anything except the physical process itself. Stoical and mostly unflappable, Ella called the experience “slightly chaotic” with admirable moderation. But the headline news […]
Category Archives: 2026
2026 Ahem
LILY ROOKIE PUMP: August 2026
Ahem, Lily Kay Chislett was born on 14th August 2026 to Ella and Sam in [...]
Continue reading
03
Sep
Sep
2026 Ahem
BLANKETS ORAL PONTOON: July 2026
Ahem, Ella and Sam gave a party at their new house to celebrate their move [...]
Continue reading
01
Aug
Aug
Get Righting
Get Righting!
Everyone’s got a story to tell. Are you telling yours? No? Then GET RIGHTING! GET [...]
Continue reading
16
Jul
Jul
A History of Love and Loss Novel
A First-Novel Blog: False Finishes
A new blog about writing a novel and getting it published On the sixth day [...]
Continue reading
11
Jul
Jul
2026 Ahem
TRESTLE RESERVOIR BUMP: June 2026
Ahem, June began dank and damp, with a succession of rainy days that sapped the [...]
Continue reading
03
Jul
Jul
01
Aug
Aug
Ahem, Ella and Sam gave a party at their new house to celebrate their move and their thirty-third birthdays. It was one of the several fine and warm days that we had during and after the heat waves of previous weeks. With their neighbours, friends and family, we made the most of their spacious garden […]
03
Jul
Jul
Ahem, June began dank and damp, with a succession of rainy days that sapped the spirit. However, I enjoyed trying to hawk our unwanted knick-knacks to the rest of the street at an indoor boot sale organised by neighbours in memory of our mutual friend and friendly neighbour Denny, who passed away a few weeks […]
01
Jun
Jun
Ahem, I travelled down to La Hune with Jurrat and Jessie in a well-loaded car on the first day of May. Only this time I was not the driver. For the best part of 15 hours, Jessie drove almost continuously from Uckfield through the Channel Tunnel and down from Calais to the Tarn-et-Garonne in southwest […]
30
Apr
Apr
Ahem Alli and I were up and early on Good Friday to be driven with Ella to Gatwick by Sam. There we met Gwen, Jurrat, and Jessie just after 6am, in plenty of time for our short flight to Jersey, a channel island that is a British Crown dependency; but formally, geologically, and constitutionally, it […]
30
Mar
Mar
Ahem I was about to open a pile of birthday cards when I was encouraged first to open a bigger envelope addressed to me and Alli. The card contained the towering headline family news that Ella and Sam are having a baby. The information came with supporting evidence—a copy of a 16-week scan (just […]
02
Mar
Mar
Ahem Rain and colder weather in southern England dominated the first few days of the month before I flew to Malawi with my sister-in-law to spend three weeks at Toleza Farm. There had been an unexpectedly dry period in Malawi from the New Year onwards, which had threatened the planting season, but the sky soon […]
02
Feb
Feb
Ahem, During this interminably long month of heaving weather, our far south-east corner, ancestral home of the south Saxons, has led a charmed life, picking its way through and near the triple storms, snow, frosts, floods, driving rain, and sidewinding winds. For much of the month, charcoal clouds scudded with dark purpose across Birdineye Hill […]