Now that my children are in Year Two at school, I've been enjoying spending some long overdue time on offline tasks. Time away from the keyboard and social media. Time mostly spent working in the garden as it happens. I find the garden a wonderful refuge from the hectic goings-on of everyday life. My children began Year Two at school a couple of weeks ago. Wow! Where did that time go? Over the past year we've discovered Star Wars together (six of them so far), discussed whether the tooth fairy actually exists (not easy so soon after Father Christmas!) and started reading books with chapters in them!
Instagram: Six Favourites
Once in a while I like to indulge myself by going down memory lane with my photo collection. This can be a dangerous game to play. It’s nice to get the occasional fix of life when I had no responsibilities – pre-fatherhood, basically.
These six images of Venice from way back in January 2000 are from the very start of my digital collection; only 15,000 more to plough through then! I was far more organised in the days of print. Who remembers that?
What I particularly like about these photos is that they remind and reassure me that with certain subjects, it’s nigh on impossible to take a bad photograph. Some photographers may beg to disagree. But back in 2000 I happily snapped away in Venice with my old Fuji 4700 compact boasting it’s impressive 4.3 megapixels. It’s thrilling to dig them out and remember them once again.
My children turned five yesterday. Trying to be a good parent still overwhelms me.
My children were born in February 2011. The other big events of that year included the toppling of despots, the crumbling of regimes and the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey. Whilst all standout events of contrasting importance, none quite affected me as much as the birth of our twins. Five years on I still find parenting an overwhelming challenge.
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