aida austin

Personally, I don’t mind a bit of wrinkle. It shows it’s been washed

Our first Airbnb booking arrives this afternoon; my husband is strimming the back garden and I am on the phone to my sister.

Sat, 17 Jun, 2017

Clean the bathroom with a toothbrush. You can’t be too careful about hair, particularly the pubic variety

I’M thinking of doing Airbnb. I tell a friend.

Sat, 10 Jun, 2017

Perhaps my ego is about to be stroked

If you’re a maker of any sort, as I am, you’ll know that your ego is at least partially dependent upon your ability to sell what you make. 

Sat, 03 Jun, 2017

'If the plane goes down, we both die. I don’t suppose we’ve got a will sorted?'

Driving towards Cork Airport to catch a flight, “I feel a bit odd,” my husband says.

Sat, 27 May, 2017

When people die here, they have lots of sort of… get-togethers

The first time we revisit England after moving to Ireland, we get stuck in weekend traffic going west out of London.

Sat, 06 May, 2017

I have two pairs of shutters on the windows and a twitch in both eyes

Last summer in Lefkada, I took a photograph of a pair of window shutters; double-panel, hardwood, painted palest sunbleached olive.

Sat, 29 Apr, 2017

That’s why people go on cruises, you know. They eat all day and all night

Monday morning and I’m at home, returning a Whatsapp call from my mother that kept dropping earlier this morning.

Sat, 15 Apr, 2017

I’m not even taking parent plants. I’m just re-homing their babies

10am Saturday. I’m about to wake my husband in order to put to him my plans for the day. Best to do this with fresh coffee; I’m expecting an oppositional response.

Sat, 08 Apr, 2017

We live in a town now, so we can’t pass the filth of the car off as country dirt

8pm. My brother and mother are flying from London to see our new home tomorrow. I’m Whatsapping them photographic evidence of refurbishments to set their minds at rest.

Sat, 01 Apr, 2017

I’m unable to decide if these trousers are highly amusing or chic

8pm. My husband and I are running inexcusably late for a dinner party; he’s half-in, half-out of a pair of crumpled trousers in one bedroom, while I’m half-in, half-out of a barely-worn pair in another.

Sat, 25 Mar, 2017

You can’t cancel a precious reunion like this because of extreme agony

London. 4 pm. I’m on my way to meet James, the man I lived with before I met my husband.

Sat, 18 Mar, 2017

All I can do is sit still like a good girl and follow my sister’s dos and don’ts

I am in my London sister’s flat, on my best behaviour after doing handstands in her bedroom.

Sat, 11 Mar, 2017

My brain goes buzzy when I have to push it into understanding things it doesn’t want to learn

I am in the Victoria and Albert museum with my brother who is just back from Kabul. 

Sat, 04 Mar, 2017

"Stay out of my f***ing bed,” and, “don’t go near my bloody Acqua di Parma”

11. 30. I’ve just arrived in England, where I’m staying with my sister for three nights.

Sat, 25 Feb, 2017

I’m not sure having kids is for me, he says, and it’s not just the worry side

I’m in neurology outpatients. Just a routine follow-up. 

Sat, 18 Feb, 2017

My days of sleeping on un-ironed pillowcases are over too

My mother is coming to visit us in our new house. She is determined to stay in a local hotel. The one with the nice marmalade.

Sat, 11 Feb, 2017

I didn’t fancy the idea of my hormones being turned upside down

11a.m Sunday. My daughter has spent the past two weeks writing a research proposal on gender sex-typing. Now, the morning after its completion, she is sitting on the sofa, liberated.

Sat, 04 Feb, 2017

I might do a research project myself

My daughter is home from Edinburgh University, where she is doing an MA in psychology. 

Sat, 28 Jan, 2017

Aida Austin: Switching mobile phone providers

I am switching mobile phone providers. This morning, on day three of trying to activate a new phone sim card, I’m sitting at the kitchen table, in front of my laptop.

Sat, 21 Jan, 2017

Aida Austin: My legs aren’t working very well but at least they are still attached

FRIDAY night. My husband and I are in England, visiting family.

Sat, 14 Jan, 2017

Sometimes I wish I was an only child

This week Aida Austin divulges the inner workings of her sibling relationships and tells us why sometimes she just wishes she could be an only child.

Sat, 17 Dec, 2016

'Just checking to see if you’re still alive'

Aida Austin talks mishaps, dangers and accidents at her new home.

Tue, 13 Dec, 2016

The side of the 'Strictly' craze you'll never see ...

Aida Austin lets us glimpse inside her own ’Strictly’ diary ...

Sat, 26 Nov, 2016

Yeah, spitting on beds was quite a thing when we were kids

MY MOTHER’S eightieth birthday party - and I’m catching up with my cousins; six of them, my mother’s sister’s children, from the Italian side.

Sat, 19 Nov, 2016

My husband has just shouted, “SHIT,” and disappeared round the corner to find Wi-Fi

9am, and I am standing outside Vanessa’s flat in Brixton, checking my phone for messages left on the “Siblings” Whatsapp group that my London sister created in order to organise my mother’s 80th birthday party.

Sat, 12 Nov, 2016

It’s hard enough being a woman at the best of times, without having to worry about your husband selling you

My mother phones me at my sister’s flat. It’s 9am.

Sat, 05 Nov, 2016

Aida Austin: My daughter and husband are determined to be my caregivers

9am. I am in the car, en route to hospital, where I am to have a small lesion removed from my lower calf.

Fri, 04 Nov, 2016

I am trying to get into Vanessa’s car but first I have to find the seat

FIVE pm, London, and I’m lying on the sofa in Vanessa’s sitting room, counting tribal Afghan kilims.

Sat, 22 Oct, 2016

There is going to be no blood, sweat or tears because I am going to pace myself this time...

“You swore you’d never renovate anything again as long as you lived. You’ve been swearing that for my entire childhood.”

Sat, 15 Oct, 2016

No one saw my pyjamas falling down, but I still can’t find the Nissan

Midnight, Sunday — and I’m outside the house, looking for my book which I feel certain I left in the car.

Sat, 08 Oct, 2016

My daughter and husband are determined to be my caregivers

9am. I am in the car, en route to hospital, where I am to have a small lesion removed from my lower calf.

Sat, 01 Oct, 2016

It’s important no one family member comes off as more stupid than any other

Sunday morning. My husband is in bed. I am in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee pot to boil. I turn up the radio; I’m trying not to listen to the small voice of my conscience.

Sat, 17 Sep, 2016