Author / Jools

I have been wondering about grammar – how a preposition might change the world. We’ve just finished Module 2 of the Professional Training in Somatic Movement Education. I still feel very much like a beginner, but we are on the move, and I’m beginning to understand things which might seem really basic, but my learning…

The damson coulis pools in my porridge. I’m sitting across from Maggie the artist, who brought out the jug of damson elixir from the cook’s fridge a few minutes ago, and she’s grinning over her booty. My hands are still cold from an hour of Tai Chi down by the lake. At the water’s edge, a…

I’m sitting in the kitchen shelling broad beans. It’s a rainy afternoon, and I’m beside the open door to the interior courtyard at Via Romagna 14. We’re on the third floor, so we’re sort of in the middle of this nineteenth century building. I listen to the rain, and the cool air it brings, and…

I’ve been in the kitchen doing Tai Chi and catching up with my husband. At 7.30, he reminds me it’s time to wake the children, and I jog delightedly into their room, where they’re sleeping soundly, and gently snuggle Natalie. As she wakes, she realizes I’m there and hugs me tight – ‘Mummy!’ she cries,…

In a fit of impetuosity (the year before last it was tickets to see Eminem), I have booked the Italian and I into a Shepherd’s Hut as a Christmas present for himself. And so here we are, in the middle of Elmley Nature Reserve a few days into January, sitting on our bed with our…

The first ones are stolen from a walk down to Piazza Navona, where we have promised the children a Christmas Fair. We slip down a side street and into the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. Inside, little side crypts are dark, but above us, soar rococo angels dancing on clouds carved from white marble,…

I’m learning Italian, which is enchanting and frustrating in turns. The Italian is hard enough, but getting across town to my class has also had its challenges. On the morning of my first class, I decide to walk to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, where the school is. I now live in a city where my…

Scopa is an Italian card game all the kids play here– Natalie & Jacobo both have sets of cards in their school bags. On the surface, the pack looks similar to ordinary cards, but oh ho ho – fools are ye that think they are the same . . . Last night, Jacobo thrashed Vittorio,…

We’ve been living in Rome for the best part of six weeks, close to the crossroads of Via Romagna & Boncompagni. It’s been long enough for us to get to know our neighbourhood a little. Long enough to be on smiling terms with the older couple who run the little shop round the corner on…