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Somehow I seem to get to the end of the week and not remember what I did yesterday. My mind seems to blank out before and after and only to be able to focus on the five minutes around the now period. For everything else I have a calendar where I jot down notes. I even put the basic stuff like 'buy milk' as it is highly likely that I will forget this if I cannot read it just before I go out. Hence I consult said calendar every five minutes, mainly because after half an hour or so I have forgotten that I have consulted it already. This also applies to door locking and checking if the iron is off [it is very rarely on, but that's another story].

Anyway, here I am trying to remember the past week which, as usual, has gone by in a blur of activity. The weekend passed very rapidly as always with the highlight being Fathers Day, which passed much like all other days thus proving my point that "every day is fathers day". The girls did make a lovely menu for their dad and I helped them cook it and the day culminated in the European Cup [as it has every day for the past week. Still, it makes a change from the cookery channel. I feel I have seen the semi-finals of Master Chef almost more times that High School Musical 2. Why do they seem to be permanently in the semi-finals stage? Does the competition never end?]. We did go to a friend's house in between and said father did drive there and back, which I would have done, but I am a bit slow on the driving, though getting meaner with every day that I spend on the M11 driving to work.

Bonkers daughter asked when it was going to be childrens day and soon after that when it was going to be cats day. If every day is fathers day, then that would be with knobs on for children [at least he sometimes picks up his clothes] and, as for the cat, I look at him lying in splendour on the bed all day and I feel somehow humans have really really got it wrong. Why can't we be the pets and they go out to work all day? Cats have it made. No cages, food on tap, endless beds and sofas to lie on and everyone thinks they are beautiful [although not maybe quite as beautiful as they think they are].

Our struggles with technology almost look like they are coming to an end - I don't want to be too optimistic here. I am writing this on the new computer, which has yet to crash. The technician eventually came round and wiggled the memory chip into place and told us to reboot. We are now petrified about adding any programmes and live in fear of Rebel daughter downloading games onto the system. Also, the phone went down at the weekend due to a crossed line. And I still haven't figured out how to put the answer machine on my mobile, but one step at a time. I have spent two months struggling with the new computer and speaking to a panoply of technical operators on second tier support and, though I got a bit tetchy after the 10th call or so, by the end I was so tired of giving my security information that I just went through the motions automatically, all the fight having been worn out of me. The whole process was a bit like life itself. You start off optimistically and then gradually experience wears you down. Your heart gets trampled on, you go to work and get mowed down by office politics and you have children and spend all day making them food, clearing up poo and answering questions about Hannah Montana. Toddler daughter has taken to saving her poos for me or her dad, whoever is not home at the time, to witness. The other day her dad persuaded her to let him photo the poo while I was at work just so he wouldn't have to save it for the eight hours until I got home.

This week I had a call from someone from my secondary school. That's 20 or so years ago. It was very good to hear from her. I find myself increasingly harking back to the days of yore, particularly to childhood. Having children just brings up lots of stuff all the time. Rebel daughter is having a tough time at school after the move. My brother and I must have moved school about 10 times when we were young. Mostly Rebel daughter is lonely. I think I spent most of my childhood feeling similarly. I just hope she finds a good friend sooner or later. Her aunt also wants her to go and stay in the summer and do a course to learn Spanish. I know deep down this makes sense and she could have a great time, but she's really shy and the whole school thing has been hard on her - is going away to another school-type environment really the best thing for her right now? Plus I spent a lot of my childhood flying between my mum and dad in the summer holidays and hating it. I know this is nothing like going to visit your auntie and I shouldn't let this affect the really good rational case for sending her abroad, but somehow it does. I'm going to be so rubbish at being a good parent when they're teenagers...