[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/snowdelay.mp3|titles=Snow Delay] Snow delay for the kids today. It was barely worth it for a dusting. There was no policy for this when I grew up. Here, now, everyone knows that a delay means the day starts two hours late, A snow day means everything is canceled but work. Growing up, there was just snow,… Continue reading Snow Delay
Month: January 2010
‘Sno Always Like This
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Snolikethis.mp3|titles=Sno Always Like This!] Since I moved to the States I’ve had to deal with people always telling me that I must be so used to the cold and snow, being from Scotland and all. Then I have to gently tell them that it’s not really like Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in Britain these days,… Continue reading ‘Sno Always Like This
Back In The 1980s, Kids…
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/legwarmers.mp3|titles=Legwarmers] Yesterday I bent down and slid legwarmers over my feet for the first time since 1985. Instantly, I was 13 again; in my bedroom in my parents’ house, faintly worried. Will I look stupid? Is my hair right? Will he notice me? Where’s my electric-blue eyeliner? But these were a modest brown, not the… Continue reading Back In The 1980s, Kids…
Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020
[audio:http://www.julieduffy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/kindergarten2010.mp3|titles=Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020] Visited the school yesterday and, while hanging around, found myself reading the exhibits on the wall outside the Kindergarten classroom. Embracing the idea of history and change occasioned by the dawning of a new decade (which it’s not. But don’t get me started on the whole “there was no Year 0” thing.… Continue reading Kindergarten Aspirations 2010-2020
Global Silliness
So, my friend Carol went to Thailand and Cambodia for Christmas and New Year (as you do). We’ve been keeping in touch by email, but this morning she caught me on GoogleTalk and we’re chatting in real time. She sent me a link to the guest house she is typing from, so that I could… Continue reading Global Silliness
The Crazy Uncle
Every family has the crazy uncle, right? I had two. One related by inclination, the other by marriage. Growing up I saw one almost every weekend, the other much less often. I miss them both. One was witty and daft and completely off the wall; kind and generous and possibly quite brilliant; more like my… Continue reading The Crazy Uncle
Conflicted
I want a fresh start. Isn’t that what the New Year is supposed to be all about? But it’s not. It’s half way through the school year. It’s a third of the way into a work commitment. It’s almost seven years into one son’s life, five for the other. It’s us on the way to… Continue reading Conflicted
Where’s My Vertiport?!
At the Helicopter Museum today, saw a diorama all about ‘vertiports’ and how, in The Future helicopters would ferry everyone from the city out to the airports or nearby cities. The skyline behind the artist’s rendering of the Heliport was New York pre-Twin-Towers. So where’s my vertiport? Where’s my hover car? And where the hell… Continue reading Where’s My Vertiport?!
Happy New Year At Last
So here we are on a cold and mercilessly bright New Year’s morning. I kind of hate New Year’s Eve, but as soon as midnight rolls around I have the happy, fresh-slate feeling that comes as a surprise every time. I’m always very pessimistic, fatalistic, on Hogmanay, which is not like me. But maybe I’m… Continue reading Happy New Year At Last