Oh, the terrible guilt of enjoying the holiday sunshine, when my teenager is up to her neck in GCSEs
I'd forgotten one thing – the terrible guilt. Maybe it's because the Easter holidays weren't sunny last year, or maybe it's because the youngest is my favourite (I am joking), but the guilt is just hideous. It's like having a little Cinderella in the house, except I'm not the audience – I'm the evil stepmother. Fancy going to the beach, or to a party? What about a lovely lie-in, and then some re-runs of The Office? What about a ball – you know there are some great balls on? Everyone can do exactly as they wish, except Cinders upstairs, who's trying to memorise the whole of Great Expectations, while the rest of us – even the people who did the same text last year – sit around going: 'Is that the one about the orphanage and the porridge?'
We can't even do positive visualisations of the summer, when it'll all be over, as that just reminds the poor rag-dressed creature of the time period between now and then. Really, the only way to offset this guilt would be to memorise Great Expectations myself. But I don't want to. The sun's out.
Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
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