In 2009 I began to record our lives in Hampshire in our local parish magazine, capturing the changing seasons as seen through my children’s eyes.  Within the village the paths that are followed have been used by generations of parents and children, but with our increasingly busy lives and our use of the car, it is easy to forget the simple pleasure of walking and noticing the immediate world around us.  In 2011, with the littlest of the Tribe just a few months old, we embarked on our two year adventure in the Middle East, living in Dubai – just about as far away from the Tribe’s ‘Enid Blyton’ upbringing as you could possibly get!  Whilst there the parish magazine column changed to from ‘Walking to School’ to ‘Walking in the Desert’.  Now we have returned to our country life and my writing continues on paper and now online, with the trials, tribulations and triumphs of life with the Tribe.  I hope that you will enjoy sharing our adventures.  (May 2014)

Cast:

Mother of the Tribe (MotT), that’s me!, wife, mother, diplomat, negotiator, cook, cleaner, juggler, driver, entertainer, romantic…

Father of the Tribe (FotT), Kiwi and like all good Kiwis has an ability to fix (almost!) everything and anything, he is also the pragmatist

 

The Eldest, 12, year 7, sporty

The Boy, 10, year 6, IT crazy

Our ‘Gerald Durrell’, 9, year 4, arty and loves nature, hence the name

The Littlest, 3, full time at home with me, wants to be a singer

3 black and white short haired moggies; part of the Tribe as they travelled to Dubai and learnt to live in a 24/7 metropolis without fresh rabbit for breakfast