Je suis auntiegwen

Just before we went to Paris there were the awful shootings in Paris, at feck it's early tomorrow we fly out to Copenhagen, I think I am a jinx!


Don't fret though as I have been to Edinburgh without any fatalities.
And it's been under  duress. Extreme duress.
Tis half term and beautiful baby daughter fancied a trip up to Edinburgh to see her brother, as they have spent the last few years embroiled in a sibling conflict on an epic scale, I was a wee bit surprised to say the least. Undeterred and heartened at the thought of sibling harmony, I agree to drive BBD to Edinburgh, she can spend some 1 on 1 time with The Beautiful Son, I will spend a bit of time with them and a bit of time with my chum auntielou and all will be well.


I am trying to gloss over the many hours spent in a car, with no escape, in hand to hand conversation with BBD, she is a child who can take offence at anything, and she does, she is extremely good at it. She has practised, a lot.
We also all pretend that she doesn't smoke and that being in an enclosed space with me and no escape to top up nicotine levels has the propensity to make her a bit tetchy. Nonetheless, we are undeterred and we headed North. We are now back, we have survived and we are still on speaking terms, this is a huge achievement. I have bitten a hole clean through my tongue and my eyebrows are still somewhere in my hairline but we are intact.


My son was like a puppy on speed, he was not on drugs nor was he drunk but he was very animated and bouncy, he is now 6 foot 5 and being with him was quite tiring, it was like he was still  his 6 year old self  who had consumed a LOT of sugar and was very overexcited as a result. My daughter was unpredictable, mood wise and I was quite exhausted at the end, auntielou was lovely as always, we have been friends now for over 25 years, she is understanding of the children, for that I am truly grateful, I don't have the usual explaining to do like I would with the unsuspecting public.


In the car on the way home, my BBD reminded me that I am a total hypocrite,  I am a "do as I say not as I do" Mummy, I shame her publicly for the mess in her bedroom, taking photos and everything  yet my car is a total disgrace, and she's right, it's a tip.  Je suis auntiegwen and my car is messy. Do you think that will cover public penance or do we need photos?

Pleased as pleased can be

The last couple of years have been very tricky for my younger daughter. She sort of lost her place in the world a bit, had some friends who weren't always making wise choices, made some bad decisions herself and had a tough time for a while. It really was like an explosion in a WTF factory, we never knew what was coming next.
People were very quick to judge and to write her off, but to her credit, she changed schools, her attitude changed tremendously and she got her self back on track.


Now she has 5 offers from universities, some really decent ones, I think Warwick is the highest ranking of her offers, definitely in the top 10 UK uni's but it is number 1 in the country in her chosen course.


Today she got an unconditional offer to study journalism at the university she really wants. 


I am just pleased that someone else can see her worth too