Snippets

The papers have yielded a range of interesting reflections this week starting with Graydon Carter in the Guardian Q&A my two favourite responses were
What do you owe your parents?
They taught me how to be happy. Sounds simple, but it's a real gift.
I really hope this is something that my daughters have learnt.
What is your favourite smell?
My daughter's head.
How lovely is this reply, although by the time they hit their teens the smell can sometimes not be so fragrant!
Another article here by Lucy Mangan,where she bemoans the disneyfication of Enid Blytons Famous Five. I have just finished reading Leyla The Magic Faraway Tree and I am not sure who enjoyed it more!
And finally I have not read this column by Liz Jones for a few weeks but the sentiment of this one rang very true for me, many months ago I wrote about having to suppress the desire to have a house that looks ever ready for its Elle Deco photo shoot and instead use the house to live in. Miss Jones should have tried living with Emin he could break the spirit of any OCD tidy freak I know. With me I think it was for the best, Emin's argument has always been that love and companionship was more important than clean and tidy!
To help me through the pain of living in chaos I always reflect on my Gran's house which was always very chaotic, every cupboard was filled with junk as was every shelf and draw you opened, but it was always a warm and welcoming environment, where as her sister lived in a house so clean you were always too scared to put a mug down or ever kick back and relax, so although I love it tidy, I have learnt to live with it. Having said that E leaves for Cyprus on Wednesday so the house will get a thorough spring clean before he returns, it deserves it once a year.