SEAG Test – 10 Tips
Our son did the SEAG test in November 2023. It was zero fun. Here are some of the things we wish we’d known and some of the things we did which worked for us. What is SEAG? SEAG is short for the Schools’ Entrance Assessment Group. It’s a group of schools which administers the transfer…
Load Up On Carbs and Bring Your Friends
I don’t know why or when I started running. It happened somewhere around my 50th birthday in perfect sync with all the other half-century psychological crises that arrive in groups like buses, wolves and episodes of bad luck. My 11-year-old son, Noah, plays football four times a week: Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Saturday and Sunday…
Sweet Sticky Piquant Chicken
A nice simple chicken recipe to make, and it’s delicious. My mum made this in the 80s with pork and gave it its name. We prefer it with chicken and have dubbed it ‘Sweet Sticky Piquant Chicken’. You might want to a bit less brown sugar in it, as it can be a bit too…
North: Chapter 6
6: Everything the Finders Found (Part Two) Three Months Ago cold coming they had of it, through hard travelling and a blizzard which bit into their cheeks and stung their eyes, the snow made violent by the more violent winds. The two Finders came slowly up the side of the mountain, their tread weary and…
North: Chapter 5
5: In The Climate of Struggle (Part One) Now The Night Manager, plush and neatly arranged as Marcus knew the rest of the hotel would be, had been waiting nervously for him. As Marcus crossed the lobby towards him, the man noticed him and took a crisp white handkerchief from his breast pocket. He pressed…
North: Chapter 4
4: Marcus Now In the time it takes him to slowly blink three times, Marcus has catalogued almost one hundred objects in the room which, should he need to, his dark and agile hands can later turn to weaponry. The first blink and his mind measures the lobby’s dimensions, retrieves the opulent topography of its…
Writing Exercise: The First Time I Felt Dispensable
In 2015 I joined a short-lived writers’ group, hosted in a coffee shop several miles away. The host was an English teacher and ahead of the of the few occasions we met, she would set us a prompt to write to. This was one of them: ‘The First Time I Felt Indispensable’. She wrote me…
North: Chapter 3
3: North Now Night in City and information moved through its wide streets like a breeze of colours. Night in City and City, like the night, spread for miles in every direction: white building beside white building beside white building, so tall that they rested their spires in high clouds made cyan by the streetlamps…
North: Chapter 2
2: Everything the Finders Found (Part One) Three Months Ago cold coming they had of it, through hard travelling and a blizzard which bit into their cheeks and stung their eyes, the snow made violent by the more violent winds. The two Finders came slowly up the side of the mountain, their tread weary and…
North: Chapter 1
1: North Three Months Ago To the North came the first of the cold winds and it chased and corralled the snow before it. From the high places at the top of the world, it lifted itself and moved across the glaciers, above a river, and beneath the stars, with an icy speed and purpose.…
How To Cook Christmas Dinner
To spare you the full nervous breakdown experience of cooking Christmas dinner for your loved ones – and other members of your family too – this is how I’ve been cooking Christmas dinner for around eight or ten people. It’s evolved over the years so I hope this is helpful. Goals There are a few…
