Dear Sam, Well, what a tonic it was to spend time with good friends! Oxford was looking glorious, with the college gardens and parks at their most colourful, and I loved seeing the profusion of roses everywhere. As well as reminiscing about our student days, it was wonderful to look ahead and make some…
Dear Sam, Ciao from Florence! We're here for a few days to explore and enjoy some sunshine, good food and gelato. I'll take your advice and avoid plastic by choosing a cornet in place of a tub! When I go on holiday, I like to take a book that suits the destination, so before we…
Hello, We are taking a Christmas and New Year break at the moment. We have lots of posts planned for 2018, so we look forward to seeing you back here at Staircase 9 17 on Friday, 26th January 2018. Claire & Sam
Dear Claire, Happy Advent! I can hardly believe we are into December. Thanks so much for all those gift ideas. What wonderful ways to do some good - and extremely handy for me, as I haven’t even begun my Christmas shopping yet! One thing I did buy, though, was a children's Advent calendar. It's from…
Dear Sam, Happy Thanksgiving for yesterday! I was thinking of you and how grateful I am that we can connect through our blog, too. I was delighted to hear that being kind is so good for us - that's definitely a win-win situation. Talking about being kind, the season of goodwill is approaching and I've…
Dear Sam, I'm really pleased to hear you had a good time in Italy - so did we! We're just back from Sicily and I enjoyed playing Free Rice to pass the time while we were travelling. I think it's a great idea to combine a game with such a good cause, so thank you…
Dear Sam, Welcome home! I hope you had a fantastic time in Italy? I know you’d been learning some Italian before your holiday - did you get a chance to try it out? Following your good example, we’ve also just booked a short trip to Italy later this year, so I've been brushing up…