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Columns
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The literal ups and downs of athletics
It’s been an up and down week and I’ve been busy, so left the children to their own devices. They have enough of them – gadgets that weren’t even science-fiction when I was small – and The Boys sat in silence side by side with iPad and laptop, virtually killing each other: all good clean cyber-fun. Meanwhile, the Artweeks office, after early September warming up – stretching exercises are vital for maintenance of peak condition and millions of yoga classes can’t be wrong – is now full speed ahead. Out of the office, however, I’m scared of going downhill. This isn’t an ageing thing, though, that worries me too. Rather, a bike accident earlier in the year left a scar across my upper thigh and it’s an unhelpful cycling issue. Down steep inclines, elderly day-trippers with hampers strapped to iron frames whistle past me while I clutch both brake levers, frantically muttering calming karmic mantra. I’ve also been darning and cussing like a cowboy. I hadn’t expected so early in the term to be stitching new knees into trousers that had them when The Youngest left for school. Although you’d be surprised at what can be found in school’s lost property box, there are no spare knees. And it’s not just The Boys in need of new knees. read more
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MAN ABOUT TOWN: Intelligence by association is my claim to fame
Well, I can die happy – or at the very least, fulfilled. Because last Tuesday, without rhyme or reason, I ended my surf of the Freeview channels by stopping to watch University Challenge. read more
