Phyl's Blog

We happened to be shopping one day on holiday in Montevarchi in Italy. It seemed like a fairly down to earth town with reasonable prices. Th...

As with all siblings, there are times when mine wind each other up. Charlotte seems to take great pleasure out of playing with the little on...

I know you've all been waiting for the next instalment of my Belling cooker saga . No, they didn't send another wrong fascia, no J...

For years I've been ranting about UK school uniforms. My kids' primary has always advocated the polo shirt and sweat shirt option, ...

We had to hire a car in Italy - Brita and Peter live in a mountain village that is too remote for public transport. Peter picked up half of ...

OMG - what happened to my baby? She suddenly looks about 4!

On Monday I was in Rome with Thomas and my two oldest kids. We only had one day to see things so we decided to run quickly round the ma...

Léon can be naively sweet and innocent at times. Two days ago we went shopping in Bibbiena. Because we have hired a five seater car, we hav...

I am slowly beginning to believe small children are actually insane! I was driving along concentrating on the traffic when suddenly Anna le...

I happened to need to buy a few things today so nipped into an average-sized supermarket in Bibbiena, a COOP. I found most of the things on ...

I've always had a wee bit of a problem with mosquitoes - they're probably one of the only things I am allergic to. Unlike when I am ...

I have been a lexicographer for over twenty years so I know  everything there is to know about compiling the entry 'fuck' for a bili...

It has been terribly endearing today to watch my kids refind each other. The biggies disappeared at the end of June to visit their Granny i...

Today was the big day. Belling were coming to fix my cooker at last. Well what do you know?  Jake didn't bring the correct fascia. I p...

Thomas has been growing grapes fairly unimpressively in our greenhouse for a few years. I am not sure what's changed but he has so many ...

It started with a crusty loaf. Thomas had spent winter and spring experimenting with roll recipes, with a view to creating little crusty r...

Thomas has planted currant bushes, along with raspberries, tayberries, gooseberries, cherries, apples, pears, damsons, quinces and even (old...

We took the girls down to the new museum the other day because they are going stir crazy with their siblings away in France (and we were ove...

I printed out some of my black and white photos for my wall recently and hung them up. Coming from a colour era, rather than a b&w one w...

I was having lunch in the garden today with Anna. Most of the way through a plate of scrambled egg she turned to me and said 'I eated al...