1. Are you absolutely sick and tired of my show-off holiday posts yet? Sorry, there’s two more coming – one about shopping (I might have done a little bit of shopping on my last day in London) and the other about my favourite bits of London.

2. Even after my recent visit, when I think about London, the first thing that comes to mind is Buckingham Palace. Which then prompts this –

They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace –
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
“A soldier’s life is terrible hard,”
Says Alice.

My dad recited that particular poem often when I was little. Read the rest of it here.

3. I’ve had one of those weeks where ALL THE DEADLINES and ALL THE THINGS THAT DIDN’T HAVE A DEADLINE SUDDENLY DO, landed on me at once. Something has to give (and it won’t be reading or uni).

4. Here’s a cover war for you (different editions of The Violet Hour by Katherine Hill – I started it last night) –

Which one do you prefer? I actually like the first one best – it’s a book I’d pick up in a book shop. The second is okay and my least favourite is the third (it looks a bit too mum-lit). Incidentally, the Australian edition has the third cover.

5. This article by Honest Toddler made me laugh out loud. It’s all so true. The opening quote is hilarious –

“Imagine sitting in a steamy jacuzzi while you’re wearing a bunny soft cashmere robe. You’re riding a unicorn at the same time and it’s feeding you factory fresh candy corn. That’s what it feels like to pee in your pants. Freedom. Luxury. Warmth.”

6. I’m in that completely unfair zone where the kids summer sports haven’t finished but the winter ones have started. Currently juggling swimming, gymnastics, athletics, football and lacrosse. It’s insane. It probably contributed to no.3 above.

7. Despite my little whinge about kids sporting commitments, I vowed to myself long ago that my kids would never, ever hear me complain about taking them to sports practice. Firstly, because as an ex-swimmer and ex-rower, I owe the universe – my parents did the hard yards with my choice of very-early-morning sports. Secondly, I’d prefer to drive my kids to a million sporting events than have them sitting around looking at a screen.

8. Manicures meet social media. It’s like a dream.

9. Autumn in Melbourne brings cool mornings and sunny days, new season apples (the Fujis are making me happy but I’m counting down for the Pink Ladies), Opera Australia’s Autumn program (Rigoletto, Eugene Onegin, The Turk in Italy, Carmen) and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

10. And by the way, how is it possible that the first term of school is nearly over already?

Christine at Bookishly Boisterous started this meme – get amongst it.