Nick Cartwright's Blog

When I blog it seems to be with some success, when recently interviewed for The Economist the Correspondent, Alison Goddard, admitted to having read and enjoyed it, although she didn’t offer me a job.  But these successes (this success) must be tempered by the reality that my blogs are sporadic at best, I enjoy writing them when I get the time but trying to focus while the toddler watches his Thomas DVD in the lounge, the dishwasher is dealing with yesterday’s mess and the washing machine is running at full chat to deal with a backlog that would dwarf an EU food mountain is challenging.  Then, of course, there’s the feelings of guilt, should the toddler be watching a DVD while I sit at my desk?  Surely we should doing our baby yoga together?  The washing machine is not full of eco-nappies and if I was a little more organised the dishwasher would have ran it’s cycle on economy 7.  But can I assuage the feelings of guilt?  The toddler is snacking on raisins in front of his DVD, and they’re not just any raisins they’re both fair trade and organic, the washing machine is set to 30 degrees and using vegetable soap and on top of the dishwasher I’m proudly displaying a box of ecover tablets.  The truth is I don’t know.  I recently raised a glass to celebrate that I had successfully (?) made it through my 32nd year.  I am departing from early life and entering mid-life and my accumulated pile of baggage includes a couple of degree certificates, a criminal record, a pension that will pay roughly £400 per annum in another 32 years and a toddler who recognises chicory but not his own mother.  I finished typing that last sentence, while reflecting on whether I’m a successful father with the toddler tugging at my arm saying ‘stuck, stuck, stuck’ and pointing to his nostril to indicate the location of one of his fair traded, organic raisins – perhaps I have my answer.  A well placed finger and a lot of puff and I had transformed the toddler from my sticky heir into a cannon for firing snot coated raisins into the recesses of the inglenook kitchen, it will no doubt turn up later at a dinner party while I’m trying to fool friends into believing that the toddler and I sit down at the dining table every evening to a meal of steamed, sustainable fish and seasonal vegetables.  If you were hoping for erudite reflections on some of the topical news issues of the moment you’re not alone, so was I when I sat down to type but finding that raisin has taken priority.