22 Minutes to School Summer Holidays!

Parents everywhere: we are holding hands in a circle, like we do before The Bells at New Year - waiting for the surge of energy - the big change - the starting anew. Six Weeks Without School !?!

Way back in the 80's, I ran out of  Islay High School in elation. I was a Red Arrow jet, trailing vapours of delight, freedom and release.

Why now, do I feel like I' m shouting through a hatch that's about to close? I'm about to be subsumed into Children First Land. It's my choice, of course. I'm glad I can do it, but  if you're looking for me, I'll be waving from the deck of a ship, with my telescope extended, looking for wee islands where I can do scraps of writing, scraps of thinking. 

I've had my hair cut again. My hairdresser used to call it, 'more Sharleen Spiteri than Sharleen Spiteri.' Aye. My rejection of the hassle and cost of hair dye is still going, so I'm feeling a bit more Emily Thornbury (MP). But she's got sass, right? 

Sassy Emily said today....

The Robot and The Humble Man

We are finally getting our attic converted. Hoorah. 

It will be a 'lofty' office for Francis's  music making, and the kids will get a bedroom each. They are now 8 and 7, so it will be good to give them their own space to colonise with Lego and Monkeys, before they turn into teenagers and hide away for years at a time.

One of the builders was asking Hugh what he might be when he grows up.

Maybe a doctor or a lawyer?

Hugh shrugged his shoulders and said sincerely -

Eh, no. Maybe just a humble man...

Here's a 7 second video of The Humble Man trying to communicate with a robot. One day this particular robot will be the equivalent of that first computer game kids used to play: one blip of a 'tennis ball' and two scroll bar rectangles, pinging it back and forth. 

One day we won't be able to tell who's a robot and who's just a humble man, or humble woman.

Where am I?

You may well ask. 

On Twitter is the short answer. When I started Twitter, I didn't like it. It was like a cockpit dashboard, all flashing and busy and I didn't know which buttons to press, where to look first.

Now, I find I'm slightly addicted to it. It's so instant, so real time. I 'meet' new people and writers, I find new poems/books/articles to read and appreciate. I laugh out loud at the Twitter feed while watching Question Time. 

Have I posted this before? I'm getting deja vu. Lost in a twitter vortex.  @CiaraMacLaverty is where you'll find me.

Meantime, here's a picture I tweeted of our kitchen window seat. Life may have small regrets, but the window seat is usually not one of them.  Trees help everything, I find.