The In-Between Time

A heatwave, the World Cup and the end of a routine

Life feels a little odd at the moment.

Leo has finished his GCSE exams. Layla has completed her year-long Art Foundation course at a local college. Kitty is still technically at school, but with her older siblings living a life of leisure, her enthusiasm (and attendance) is hanging on by a thread.

I’ve spent all of our children’s school years working from home. First as a photographer and then, since 2014, as an author. My daily routine has long been governed by school drop-offs and pick-ups and then cramming as much work as possible into the hours in between.

This routine has suddenly come to an end. And I’ve been left feeling a little unsettled as my normal working day has fallen apart.

My head is still buzzing with ideas from the Self Publishing Show in London a couple of weeks ago. I came home with pages of notes and dozens of new ideas about how to market my books and generally become better at this publishing game. And I want to try to implement them all as soon as possible.

But life has got in the way.

For years, the house would be silent when I was home at 8.45am and I’d sit down at my desk undistracted. Now, there is always someone making toast, searching through drawers for a charger or winding up Ludo.

Not that I’m resenting my children being here. I genuinely do love having them around. It’s just much harder to get anything done.

The World Cup hasn’t helped. There has been an awful lot of football to watch. Very late kick-offs have resulted in a lot of late nights, which has meant I’ve been rather slow to get to my desk the following morning.

And the current heatwave has made things pretty unpleasant too.

Every room in our house feels uncomfortably warm, all day and all night. Britain is not designed for temperatures like this, and the country has a habit of grinding to a halt in these conditions.

Then our van broke down at the start of this week. Getting it fixed is not as straightforward as I hoped. The few mechanics around here become backlogged this time of year as South Devon fills with holidaymakers. I spent three hours phoning every local garage and the middle of July was the earliest anyone could look at it, let alone try to fix it.

So, I took the drastic, possibly stupid, step of trying to diagnose the problem myself (with the help of ChatGPT), ordering a second-hand part on eBay, and then persuading a mobile mechanic to come and fit it next week. Fingers crossed.

I also finally sent my phone off to be repaired, after months of living with a smashed screen and camera lenses that refuse to focus. This involved several hours of filling in insurance claim forms, ensuring all my photos and everything else were safely backed up, before realising quite how much I rely on the thing once it had actually gone.

There have been some positives, though.

Having no van has meant no school drop-off for Kitty, so she’s had to walk the two miles to school all week. She’s taken it surprisingly well. Completing Ten Tors seems to have changed her perspective on what constitutes a long walk.

When Rachel returns from work in the evening there’s still plenty of chauffeuring around South Devon to do in her car. There’s always someone who needs dropping off or picking up from somewhere. Social gatherings, beach trips, orthodontist visits and leavers’ parties.

In fact, Leo needs collecting from his prom tonight at 2.00am. At least I’ll be able to watch Japan vs Sweden and Tunisia vs Netherlands while I try to stay awake.

I also know that I should probably try to appreciate this stage. Because I will no doubt look back fondly of this time once the children become even more independent.

Layla is currently learning to drive, and Leo will likely follow at the end of this year. It won’t be long before my taxi-driver duties are no longer required.

Next week, Layla heads off to Ireland for a month to work on a goat farm. She’ll have an amazing time, but I know it’s going to feel strange not having her around.

A few years ago, the idea of one of our children disappearing off on an adventure on their own for an entire month would have seemed unimaginable. Now it seems completely normal.

At the moment, it feels as though we’re in a weird little pause between chapters.

Leo and I have our own exciting plans coming up in a couple of weeks. Plans that have required a lot of preparation. It’s an adventure that will provide me with plenty to write about in the weeks ahead. I’ll say more about that soon.

Until then, I’m trying to embrace this stage. Trying to survive the heat. Trying to work through my to-do list. Trying to tell myself that England’s dire draw against Ghana was a momentary blip on their road to World Cup glory. Trying to get things done, despite the lack of any routine.

And trying to appreciate this strange in-between time before the next chapter begins.

Ludo embracing the heatwave.