User Profile

I'm a British-Canadian currently and probably permanently living in England.

I read. In an effort to stay reasonably informed I try to read 'intelligent' things: Prospect, Granta, NYRB, Booker short list-type books, various journals. I cook. I occasionally design web pages and other graphic-heavy things. I neglect my garden completely, I'm an indifferent housekeeper, I drink too much and I narcotise myself with books, movies, satellite tv and the web. I sail.

I am the beloved wife of a minimalist squirrel kit-junkie. And I may be the most happily married person alive.

I'm stepmother to two children and it's incredibly hard work: draining, exhausting, boring, frustrating, challenging, terrifying, thought-provoking, occasionally joyous, hilarious, sometimes exhilarating, and I'm exceptionally bad at it. Being apparently devoid of even the tiniest vestige of maternal instinct, I try to approach parenting as a fake-it-'til-you-make-it kind of thing. I visualise the things a 'good' parent--in my estimation, which changes daily as I think about it more or less deeply and depending on my relative sanity at the time--would do, then try to do them. Mostly I fail because I am ultimately too short-tempered, intolerant, impatient, arrogant, dismissive, and self-centred. Occasionally I succeed though having said that I confess to being completely mystified as to what, exactly, constitutes 'success' in this arena. The best I can say is that I'm devoted to revision.

I write.

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