Phyl's Blog

Every family has its own made-up words. For instance, we Buchanans all call a digger a jalt . This came from an encounter I had at three wi...

I went (once again) to Italy on holiday. Thomas's family lives there so it is our most common destination. As always, straight off the p...

I swear you hear the oddest things at times. There I was yesterday sitting on a bench in Princes st. A middle-aged woman with a strong north...

My table is getting a bit old and done, but buying a new one is a bit beyond my means. On holiday in Italy, several cafés we went into had v...

I'm just catching up on some things I meant to post in the summer... This year we went over to visit Thomas's parents in Tuscany. ...

From '79 to '85 I went to Eastwood High School. Times were a tad less exotic than today and our annual school trip at the end o...

When Charlotte scored her six A grade Highers (English, Maths, Chemistry, History, Spanish and French), I asked her how she wanted to celebr...

We went 'back to school' yesterday so I dragged the kids out for the obligatory official photoshoot. I had simply intended to write...

When I was a child in the early 70s, growing up in the rather posh Glaswegian suburb of Newton Mearns, we called any carbonated soft drink l...

Anna and Amaia were lying in bed lasting night singing along to Lady Gaga's Paprazzi  together. Suddenly Amaia stopped and asked ...

Saturday would have been my granny's 100th birthday. Of course, most people don't get to 100, so it's not surprisin...

So there I was the other day in COOP in Bibbiena (Italy), with Amaia, shopping. Suddenly she stops and shouts me over... Amaia: Italian...

Charlotte's always had a bit of an obsession with watermelon - from the annual family watermelon-eating photo, to watermelon, feta and...

I was parked beside this little car in a car park the other day. I used my phone to take  a photo of it with mine as they looked like ...

Seeing the news this morning made me think of my dad - I was going to write down why, but I could never explain it as well as he did in his...

He's gone, he's moved on! I would like to take this opportunity to praise my kids' primary school. I have no idea how the...

I was all fired up to blog about the election last night and then my Internet went down - joy of joys. This morning I simply feel dread......

This was taken the last time we spent a whole day in Pisa - we've flown through it since, but the kids haven't been to the tower sin...

Is it normal for an 11 year old to stand admiring himself in the mirror (when he hasn't noticed his sister is behind the door 🤣 ) an...

Fascinating question of the evening from number 5: Amaia: Is this a leap year? Me: No, last year was. Amaia: But we leapt over the 29th...