How many are you? "Oh, just two." Then we'll use number three for you. Quick, clamber in and take your seat. We're due to show you something neat. The water here is deep with wishes: around the sides of boats it swishes, blue and calm as if to say "We're glad you came along today. … Continue reading “it’s a small world”
“You know,” she said, “S’no other place where you can go from outer space to rootin’ tootin’ Western lands and back again, while holding hands.” “And ALSO,” she announced through tears, adjusting those old Minnie ears, “At 10am you were a prince but in those 20 minutes since we’ve both been pirates. Next today is … Continue reading Explorers
"But I look horrible!" We went for a walk on Sunday. We got in the car, drove to a nearby bit of countryside, and did some exploring. I will be honest with you and say I had a BLAST - I inhaled some fresh air, I ran along a muddy path like a five year-old … Continue reading Things to remember while you’re getting dressed
They are all in a bubble, but this one is hard. Plastic, like a hamster ball. I carry it around. It is an egg, or a baby. It is always in danger. I can bend my back, not arched or pretty. The other way, like I am winded or not yet here. I can hold … Continue reading A bubble
I heard you talking, Mom and Dad, While I was fast asleep. (Well, really I was wide awake, But didn’t make a peep.) You said I’d be too short, too scared, That when I woke I’d be In charge of carrying the bags – Just coats and Mom and me. The next day came and … Continue reading Space Mountain
If I think back to being small, I remember liking two things above all else: Disney and reading. I liked other stuff too, of course: beanbags, Angel Delight and Jim Davidson's Generation Game, to name a few. But Disney and reading always came out top. This is me, havin' a good old read in bed … Continue reading #DisneyBookWeek: Making reading magical
The best of all is right before. Almost, anyway. I try to be the first, the one to see a sign: “Look, there! Look, left!” And the tallest bits of magic meet our eyes. Mine squint, full of tears. Shots of pink - I remember the smell - and A rocket that could take me … Continue reading NEARLY THERE
The other day, I was running down the stairs at work and my shoe fell off. Like, one second it was there, the next I had walked out of it and left it on a step. I won’t lie to you: it was quite an embarrassing time for me, partly because I did an alarmed … Continue reading TAKING LIFE ADVICE FROM A SNAIL
When I was six I heard there was a place Like nowhere, like nothing. And four went strolling, hand in hand: Through pinks and golds and clouds and swells Of music, Smells and people, always. Crowds, not like before. The images are hazy But my favourite. When I was eleven I said I couldn’t. I … Continue reading WINDOWS AND DOORS
Last night I went to an event in London. I finished work, drove to the train station and jumped on a train, spent just over two hours in the capital and then came straight home again. On the journey there, I ate too many breadsticks and felt a bit sick, then thought a Milky Way … Continue reading The terrifying art of self-belief
