hotter The Little White Horse is fantastic, isn't it? A whole other old-fashioned world opened up to me through that book, I was fascinated by the idea of keeping butter and cream cool in the wall of a well and spent much time wondering about words like heliotrope, junket and backboard.
pertelote what a brilliant habit to be in. There is no shame in reading kids' books, it's a rare skill to be able to condense story and meaning into such a small clear space so when you get a good one you're reading a real example of literary art. My favourite childhood book was (and remains) The Farthest Away Mountain, by Lynne Reid Banks. Read for its feisty heroine, sad gargoyles, surreal adventures and sly humour
Have nothing other than for Mr Qod and for Mr Miamla. Some ideas need bucking up, methinks!
steak there's not much I can add to what the others have said re. job...fantastic for you to be headhunted and certainly a great opportunity, but so much to consider. Obviously I can only tell you my gut feeling were I to be placed in such a situation (unlikely), but I don't think I'd be able to take it. London is exhausting - if you remember, we considered moving back down to be near friends and family when J was tiny and what convinced us otherwise was the thought of all that grimy, weary travelling to get anywhere, DP slogging home knowing that J was already in bed, having to drop J in childcare before breakfast so I could get to work on time...I couldn't face the downgrade in our quality of life.
J is in childcare three 8.5hr days a week and that is as much as he or I can handle. I think (and do bear in mind this is JMO) you would be ground down as a single mum working FT in London, especially since they want you to start straight away so you'd have to make a rushed move with all the stress that entails.
Having said that, I do know FT WOHMs in London for whom it works. There's no one size to fit all.
Grey rainy morning here [sigh] DP has spent 2 hours on the phone to BT getting his internet access sorted out. When DS wakes up, there's cleaning and a big food shop on the horizon. The glamour never starts stops!