I’ve been indoors for a week now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and from tomorrow children across the country will also be at home as most of the schools have closed.

One of the first things I did for myself when I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time at home was make a schedule to help give my day a routine and to make sure that I still ate and rested at sensible times.…

My niece Bean is almost three. Her mum is my sister, regular readers know her as Fat Sister, a name my tics came up with many years ago while she was on a diet. Fat Sister is a doctor at a large London hospital, and she was on call last weekend.…

What a whirlwind the last few months have been both here in Biscuit Land and in the wider world! Over the last few days we’ve all been slowing down and unwinding ready for Christmas, and this is the first proper break I’ve had since I went to Spain with Chopin back in June.…

I woke from my rest this afternoon to the horrible news of a knife attack at London Bridge. I immediately checked in with my friends and family who could’ve been in the area, including King Russell whose work is nearby.

I’m a Londoner, this city is my home, and from as far back as I can remember, terrorism’s been something I’ve been aware of.…

My niece Bean is two-and-a-half and she loves building structures with blocks – she calls them ‘structions’. The blocks we play with are the same ones that Fat Sister and I had as kids.

I have poor dexterity in my hands due to dystonia so these blocks are particularly good for me as they’re nice and chunky.…

This morning I left the castle for the first time in almost a week after a nasty infection kept me in bed for several days. Feeling better and keen to get out I went to meet one of my oldest friends, Anna, and her four year old daughter Neva.…

My sister had a BBQ yesterday. It was a small gathering of about fifteen close friends. I could see that her two-year-old daughter Bean was very excited by the party but also a bit overwhelmed by so many lovely people who she knows well being there at the same time.…

It’s been a very sunny day, and this morning was particularly warm and glorious.

Fat Sister, King Russell and their two-year-old daughter Bean came over first thing and we sat in the garden enjoying the weather and the prospect of the bank holiday weekend stretching out before us.…

Almost two years ago something remarkable happened: Fat Sister had a baby, my beautiful, brilliant, hilarious niece, Bean.

I’ve worked with children for about twenty years but they’ve always been five years or older and I had limited experience with younger children, particularly babies.…

I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. In fact when I was learning to write and finding it difficult I used to imagine each letter as a drawing. When I left school I studied art and went on to university to study drawing.…